Twenty

Twenty years ago today I was ordained. So, I was inspired to take a couple minutes and write a thing:

It still fits

This robe, this stole

This life

Twenty years today

Since the day I said, “I will, and I ask the Lord to help and guide me.”

Twenty years

Of bedsides

And baptisms

Of looking for the right scripture

Of sleepless Saturday nights

And Sunday afternoon naps

Twenty years

Of preparing the Table

Smoothing the fine linen

Updating the church records

Standing by the graveside with the wind whipping my hair

Wondering if the pages of my sermon will fly away

Twenty years

Of little hands giving me pictures they colored during worship

Of seeing the dairy farmer dozing during my sermon

Of making sure the lights are all turned off before I lock up the church door.

Twenty years

Of strange tasks that were never on the letter of call

But Here I am, Send me

To pick up the sticks in the cemetery after the windstorm

To find someone to remove the dead deer from the church ditch

To decide if twenty below zero is too cold to have worship or not

Twenty years

How do you measure so much joy (and not a small amount of pain)?

How do you measure a life like this?

What is there to say

Except, I’m thankful.

I’m thankful it still fits.

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