First of all, thanks to those of you who offered prayers and encouragement this week. The second parent orientation went very well! The group dynamic was different, which was immediately apparent; while the Tuesday group was glum and hostile, this group entered the building, joking, smiling and basically seeming to take things in stride. And that made me relax a great deal as I as able to meet their joviality.
The DRE also stuck around long enough to introduce me this time, she made her announcements and then told the group that I would give a talk on the sacrament and that Tuesday's was "phenominal".
Huh?
But it was a nice intro, and I think that it helped because she does a great job with the Emcee duty...I'm not so great at that part. Just not my gift. And having a smooth introduction usually softens the crowd.
All day today, I was dreading this event, but since Tuesday, in speaking with some people and teachers in the school, I got a few ideas and took them to Adoration this afternoon. After some quiet prayer, I took to my outline and interjected a few things in strategic places. I laid it all out there for Jesus...I was nervous, I was ready for the hostility, and I prayed for divine assistance.
Just before I made my final preparations, I went into the church, which was dark, and knelt down near the tabernacle, offering myself to Jesus once again, while asking for help. I have been exhausted all day, have a lot on my mind, and really, truly dreaded the event. So during that prayer time I also sent my Guardian Angel out to meet with everyone. And while the DRE made her beginning announcements, I asked all the Guardian Angels in the room to help. And they did!
I also think this particular group was just better disposed, and I actually knew a few in there already, which also helped.
And this one went really well. The additions I made actually brought in a little laughter, and the parents were really open to what I had to say. So it seems that Jesus wrote a great speech and a polished delivery, huge doses of prayers, divine assistance and lots of Guardian Angels at work made the evening a success!
And....my homework is done. I just emailed my completed assignments for Vatican II and Spirituality, and decided to stick a fork in my Synthetic study. I am just short of the required number of pages, but I just can't do any more. As it is, I'm not sure I did the assignment correctly so I'm going to suck up the bad grade and let the prof correct my errors so I don't make the same mistakes next time.
Sometimes ya gotta shoot a hostage. The name of my hostage is "Synthetic Bible Study".
So there it is. Tomorrow morning I'll get up for work, I have only a few hours to fill, and then I'll come home and take a nap before class begins tomorrow evening.
One good thing about class weekend...while we are in class and learning the entire time, the evenings are free. No homework. And no guilt for it. So in spite of the fact there is a massive influx of great information, the evenings are for processing, relaxing (finally!), and mentally preparing for the next few weeks of homework.
I'm exhausted, and I'm going to sleep now. Good night, God bless!
9 comments:
OK, you have to tell me - what's "synthetic bible study" ?!!!
You pick a word, search it out, mark every single occurrance, and look for themes. How are they related? Is it a one-time occurance, or is there a clear theme?
My topic was "sin" but it was actually difficult because of the repetetive stuff (sin offering and all that). Some themes within that exist, but there's a lot of repetition.
Go to a concordance and look up "sacrifice" or something like that, but don't limit to "sacrifice", find similar words as well.
Like, for "sin", I looked up iniquity, curse, cursed, accursed, accurse, evil, stuff like that.
But you don't want to be analytical, which is different than doing a synthesis. It's like a puzzle...grouping the pieces on the edges together, the 4 corners, and then the pieces of the same color or design, etc.
And it's harder and more tedious than it sounds.
Synthetic bible study is the study of a special bible that is washable but....will also burn if you get a cigarette ash dropped on the cover.
Adoro,
Glad your second night went better! Keep up the good work!
Like your definition of synthetic bible study way better:)
Adoro... when you are exhausted, long blog posts seem to flow forth out of you anyhow! When I am exhausted, I can barely put two words together in the right order!!!!
So glad to hear that things went well! God bless you for your faithful service.
God bless you too, Adoro.
adrienne ~ LOL! I like YOUR definition!
kiwi ~ I'm long-winded! You'd be interested to know, though, that my talk only took about 20 minutes and so, put together with the "business end" of the other stuff, including parent questions, I had everyone out of that room by 7:45. Maybe this should be an audio page....
Father ~ Thank you, and I'm trying...really trying. Were it not for the constant presence of Jesus himself, well...I'd be lost.
Hidden One...thank YOU. You're one of my biggest pray-ers, I think!
Adoro,
you will find in Gradual School that when it comes to homework you will find the point where you are willing to say (in the words of a professor I absolutely love) It is what it is. and leave it at that and turn it in.
In some classes it will be a shining bright example of the best of the best you can do. In others it will be the best you can do under the circumstances at the time. In the long run it will all come out okay.
Have faith in yourself and trust in God.
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