Today, for the moment, the sun is shining. The leaves that remain - which are ever fewer - are glistening and still, and the clouds are racing across the sky. My fingernails are turning purple from the cold because I insist on opening all the curtains to see out into the beautiful world, and I could see my breath when I took Anamaria to the library this morning. It is fall here in Washington.
A few exciting things have happened this week. First and most thrilling, I have started a new job in the library!!! Now that my grad school applications are all finished, I have lots of extra time on my hands, so S. Monika asked if I would like to spend time among the bookshelves. I felt like Belle yesterday (except my ladder didn't slide, it was a step-stool) with the high shelves of hundreds of books just waiting to be touched and put into their proper places. As my family knows, I LOVE alphabetical order. And S. Nathalie, our librarian, can't reach the top shelves, so I feel like my work is useful and appreciated. As my English Department supervisor used to say, there is nothing better than doing what you love and feeling like it matters.
I also have a new job in the kitchen, cleaning or organizing or doing whatever our Irish cook, Kathleen, asks. Yesterday, I cleaned fridges. Doesn't sound real exciting, but I was working in the warm kitchen with the ovens on and the bacon frying, and I was too warm to wear a sweater for the first time since I've been here!!! I was so excited to be hot - I'm just always so cold here and it was a wonderful treat.
Other than that, I've been working with S. Anamaria on her lesson plans, finding poetry books for children, and writing a big research paper on Early Childhood Education. It's getting closer to the end of the semester and stress is starting to run a little higher, but I am constantly amazed at both Anamaria and Redempta's dedication and will to get things done and work hard, no matter what. Even when they're tired and stressed and sick, they still sit diligently at their computers, typing away. I feel blessed to be surrounded by such inspiring people.
We had a silent day on Monday, and that inspired my lesson for today. I took a walk and wrote some, and just enjoyed a day to be. After I received a letter from my friend Mari, I started thinking about how my spiritual life has changed here. It hasn't been a very active process - I feel like most days I just live the rhythm of prayer and work (ora et labora, for my fellow Latin scholars) with the sisters. But as I thought about it more on our day of silence, I realized that the rhythm here is the most important change in my life - as I make time for God in my everyday life, I see God more often. In washing dishes or cleaning fridges or listening to long stories about second graders, I recognize little gifts God is giving me - time to talk with sisters I don't usually see, a chance to be warm, a moment of delight at the description of a "quiet smell." I think my biggest spiritual change here has been to be open to love, in whatever way or however unexpectedly it may come to me. I feel so peaceful and blessed here because I am able to be myself and be receptive to God's love for me through others.
Peace and love!
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