What I've Learned After One Semester of Seminary

As January 23rd drew closer, I imagined entering the classroom again after an eight year absence, and wondered what lessons awaited me inside the walls of Travis-Lovett Hall. In what, depending on the day, seems like either an eternity or the blink of an eye, my first semester of seminary has come and gone, and now, with all this free time I suddenly have, I have compiled a list of things I have learned after my first semester of seminary. It is much less academic than I imagined it would be as I packed my things and moved from an adorable apartment in northwest Portland into on campus student housing (no, it’s not a dorm). And while I did learn some of these things in the classroom, most of them were little seeds that were planted in the midst of a lecture that then blossomed later as the semester progressed.

I'm posting over at Deeper Story today, head over there to read the rest of this post.

dear saturday morning

Dear Saturday Morning,

This is really not how I hoped you would go. I was going to get up early and be done with one of my papers by now. I suppose it's really not your fault. I say we blame it on Friday, and that back tire with the slow leak.

I think deep down we both know this isn't about the tire, the slow leak, or the window that gets stuck anytime someone rolls it down. This is really about deeper things like trust and loneliness and longing.

So instead of being mad, I choose to say thank you for not going according to my plan.

Thank you Saturday morning for looking so different than I planned.

Thank you tire for having that slow leak, which required I be at Les Schwab at 8AM.

Thank you Les Schwab employee for rolling down the one window in my car that won't go back up, thus making a trip across the river into Vancouver to the auto shop necessary.

And thank you Lord, that Your ways are not my ways. This morning is not what I would have chosen, but I am thankful nonetheless.

Sincerely,

Haley