before this fleeting season

Lord, before this fleeting season is upon us,

let me remember to walk slowly.
Lord, bless my heart with love and with quiet.
give my heart a leaning to hear carols.
grace our family with contentment,
and the peace that comes only from You.
Lord, help us to do less this busy season;
go less;
stay closer to home;
kneel more.
may our hearts be Your heart.
may we simply, peacefully, celebrate You.

~ maryann jindra

a day of thanks

what i am thankful for this day (and always), in no particular order:
1. my family. they can be wacky but i love them :)
2. coshocton. a lot of people dog this place (with perfectly good reason), but it will always be home.
3. the lake park playvillion. countless memories were made there and it's always fun to go back.
4. food. and not just food, but good fresh food. and the fact that i have never been hungry.
5. the thousands of individuals and organizations who are fighting world hunger.
6. my job. i love my job. i love empowering students to create their own college experience.
7. my students. pfeiffer has one-of-a-kind students who pour their hearts into their work/ministry/sport.
8. my coworkers. i work with an amazing team of passionate professionals.
9. the village people. the weekly "get ready for monday!" and "glee" parties with becca, katie, and katy keep me moving!
10. music. there is nothing in this world that makes me FEEL more than good music.
11. cold weather. sweaters and coats and scarves and boots - yes!
12. love. there can never be enough love in this world.
13. hate. i think it's okay to hate, as long as you're hating something like poverty or racism or greed.
14. my pillow. i have laid my head down on the same feather pillow since middle school. it's perfect.
15. laughter. there is not a sweeter sound on this earth.
16. Jesus, who needs no explanation.

expecting the unexpected

wednesday afternoon i received a call from the dealership where i do all the servicing for my car. the woman on the other end of the line asked what it would take for me to trade in my car and get a new one. she said that they had no hondas on their pre-owned lot and, being a honda dealership, this was a problem. i told her that i would only consider it if they lowered my monthly payment and didn't tack on more than 2 years of the financing i still had left on my current car. she asked me to come in the next morning, so i did.

i explained to justin, the salesman, that i was in no way interested in buying a new car. i love my car. it is a great car. it's not even three years old. it has treated me well and it was in perfect shape. justin agreed, which is why they wanted it on their used lot. he said that looked it over the last time it was in for an oil change and since i was such a loyal client, that they wanted to offer me $2000 more than the kelly blue book value of my car. (luckily, i had done my homework and checked this out the night before just in case he was going to try to swindle me! ...he didn't.) he gave me the numbers and ended up offering me a brand new version of the same exact car i had with a lower monthly payment and only added two more years to the financing i had with the old car.

students keep asking me how long i'm going to stay at pfeiffer. i think they are quickly realizing that as i finish my master's i have one less thing holding me to this place. they recognize that i am overworked and undersocialized. my entire life here is work. i get away every once in a while, but my closest ties are in places like ohio or charlotte or boston. social activity in misenheimer can be boring for students. it is utterly nonexistent for single young men and women. this is a good place to settle down with a family, but when you're on your own life can get pretty lonely out here.

my answer is always the same: "i have no plans on leaving."

am i looking at other jobs? of course, but not seriously. every young professional my age is always looking for ways to expand their experiences and build up their resume. i would be silly not to be looking, but that's all i'm doing - looking. i'm not searching.

i love my job. i love the students i work for and the staff i work with. i love the small school atmosphere and the dedication to our church-relatedness. i love that my superiors truly let my job be a ministry. i have no intentions on leaving.

but i had no intentions on trading in my old car, either. i drove onto that lot with a trunk full of pampered chef boxes to be delivered in ohio next week, a cup of tea in the cup holder, and a pile of mail in the back seat.

the only constant in life is to expect the unexpected.