life update along an easter parallel

goodness. it's amazing how time has a slippery habit of getting away from you, particularly when you use things like blogs to keep track.

a lot has happened in my life since i last wrote, and those happenings have radically reshaped my vision for the rest of this semester and at least the next year of my life. i have been out to seattle, a mountaintop, and the farthest reaches of my positivity and faith and back again in the two months or so since I last wrote here. In the course of discerning my next step after college, I have gone from a vision of my life as a rugged outdoorswoman hiking the olympias in seattle to a tree-hugging, beach-loving, community building member of the ocean beach neighborhood of san diego, before settling (or really having my life settled) in the dynamicly overwhelming metropolis of los angeles.

not to draw an over-religious analogy, but in the spirit of easter, which i celebrated on the side of mt. greylock in western massachusetts, i can detect a striking parallel to to story of christ's final sacrifice and victory so central to the christian faith. the process of watching, waiting, hoping, praying otherwise known as "discernment" here at bc - patiently and unpatiently pushing for the future to unroll itself in front of you like the vivid carpets that prevail all over morocco - is not unsimilar in my experience to the dark and fretful hours in the garden of gethsemane.

granted, the unknown and fear i faced in this process is no where near the magnitude of that facing jesus as he prayed both sweat, tears, and blood. however, the moments of overwhelming terror, apprehension, and doubt that i experienced offered me a unique moment to appreciate more fully, in the weeks of lent, those long pre-dawn hours when christ felt utterly alone.

yet despite the tortuous journey, i have come to the other side - i have a job in labor and delivery at ucla medical center in west la; i have been blessed quite unexpectedly with a roommate that i know, love, and trust; i have found via the internet parishes with great potential granting me a vision of what my life could potentially look like. in the end (although really this continues to be an ongoing process), i am stepping into a dawn of promise, claiming the resurrection in my own life.

yesterday morning, i found myself at st. mary's chapel for 8 am mass. the priest spoke about how we, as evidenced by our physical presence, might all classify ourselves as "morning people." more importantly, he pointed out, is that we as christians identify ourselves as the morning people we are called to be, the dawn of salvation, liberation, and glory that we are promised and that we have promised to make real for all people on this earth.

the last weeks of classes, final exams, and graduation all loom ahead, and it is still quite easy to fall into the pit of despair that dictates all life ends after college, new graduates condemned to an abyss of lonliness and eternal separation from friends and those collegiate "good times." however, as the sun streams through my window even now, i claim the dawn, the resurrection, the hope and joy that proclaim this is the first step, one of many steps, along a path of discovery, growth, challenge, and peace.