From No to Yes

After 18 months of upheaval - moving 800 miles, getting re-acquainted with my home town, and the continuing revision of my beliefs and spiritual priorities - I have finally reached a couple of milestones.

It is hard to keep going, to remain positive, when everywhere you turn there is a thundering NO! No, we aren't interested in the classes you want to offer us. No, we aren't going to hire you. No, the classes you wanted to take are cancelled because there aren't enough people in them. No, no, no, no!

Suddenly the sun comes up. The ghostly light gradually brightens into pink clouds and orange sun; light and shadow are now playing on the snow. The chorus is changing its text, now, and it is beginning to say Yes.

It almost amazes me that I have completed the first level of lay speaker training. I am not sure how I can use this, with my beliefs so far removed from official Christian doctrine. However, I have some ideas, and I have some things to say, and I think I can find ways to say them that get my point across without having to involve theological argument, which I have no background to do well in. I just talked with my pastor today about possibilities, and he sounded understanding and supportive. This opportunity is actually going to get tested.

And as I stand trembling on the brink of financial disaster, someone finally says to me, "We definitely want you to be part of our team." This job, at the moment, is a bird in the bush, not a bird in the hand, because lawyers have to finish the fine print in a contract between employer and customer before I am officially offered the job. I am hopeful that in the next week or two I will be getting ready to start working. So although the bird is still in the bush, my hand is poised over him ready to grab.

And as I continue to explore my new spirituality, I suppose that there will be more to come. There are still choices about lifestyle that are working out. But I should at least avoid the need to set up housekeeping in a box under the local bridge.

Yes. A short word. One syllable, three letters. But certainly, as the dark season of the year begins to wane and we begin to think of new life in spring, it is a welcome one.