Ninety-five days till Christmas, the newscaster said. Inwardly I groaned. Unlike Hobby Lobby, which starts Christmas after the Fourth of July, it's hard for me to get motivated when Halloween (sorry, the Autumn Festival) has yet to arrive. Working in a large church has rearranged my priorities for holidays. Start early, or suffer the consequences.
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Why do couples leave the ministry? Of the many rumors that swirl around a pastor’s resignation, we don’t often consider the hardship that ministry places on the pastor’s wife and on their marriage. Women married to pastors are often living in a fishbowl—facing unique challenges.
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We might as well admit it; ministry requires time and hard work. Random items stack up under our desks, in cupboards, and drawers. Computer files seemingly grow while we're asleep. Emails go unanswered for far too long. How long has it been since someone cleaned the church kitchen?
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Yesterday I unexpectedly found myself by a lone bench on an empty oceanfront. A boat was just off the shore, solitary but securely anchored in the sea. I ached with the unexpected beauty, the symbolic solitude of the boat. I felt like this boat. Alone, aching, but securely anchored. As I stood there, I thought about the last two months and how a crisis can set off a whole new cycle of grief and loss.
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My strong-willed daughter turned two and I braced myself, expecting increasing challenges in her behavior. However, Zoe sailed through that year with a lively curiosity and mostly content demeanor. That wasn’t so bad, I reflected to my husband as her birthday approached. What’s the big deal with the ‘terrible twos’? Then she turned three.
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