From LeeAnne Beres, Earth Ministry's Executive Director
I had the best of intentions to report on my “break from busyness” this week. I’ve been walking every morning like I intended, except for the last few days when Jessie and I were in New Haven, CT for a faith and environment conference at Yale University.
It was a fabulous conference, including many of the big names in eco-theology (Sallie McFauge, Roger Gottlieb, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim – and many more). Earth Ministry’s own Rev. Carla Pryne gave a fabulous talk, using the evolution of Earth Ministry as a metaphor for the growth of the religious environmental movement over the last 20 years. And Jessie and I participated in a wide variety of plenary and break out sessions, learning a lot and sharing the good work of Earth Ministry. All in all, it was a great experience.
I will say it’s a little hard to stay on track with walking when you’re in a conference 11 hours a day, and it’s hovering around 30 degrees outside…but Jessie and I did make it to the gym the first day we were there. Even though it wasn’t outside in creation, I think that counts for something!
We’re back now, and it was a watershed moment Monday when I decided (after getting home at 10pm the night before, equivalent to 1am Eastern Time) to take the day off. I have worked a fair number of the preceding weekends and have church obligations for the next three, so down time at home is at a premium right now. So I had a wonderful lazy day lounging about in my pajamas, reading a potboiler novel that Jessie had loaned me after she finished it on the 6 hour flight back from Newark. It was glorious, and most needed.
As they say though, no good deed goes unpunished. By taking the day off on Monday, I left a mountain of work for myself today. I still haven’t sorted through my email, I have 8 unanswered, urgent voicemail messages, I had three meetings today that I was marginally prepared for, and my to-do list after being gone almost a week is a mile long.
Case in point, it’s almost 7pm on Tuesday and I’ve just now realized that I need to write my blog entry for today. I’ll be lucky if I can reach one of the technically savvy EM staffers at home to post this for me tonight, otherwise it will have to wait until tomorrow, which will encroach on Kaitlin’s post for Wednesday. Hopefully she’ll forgive me!
All this is to say that I’m only human, and like for most everyone, some days are better than others. Monday was great, Tuesday not so much.
It was a fabulous conference, including many of the big names in eco-theology (Sallie McFauge, Roger Gottlieb, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim – and many more). Earth Ministry’s own Rev. Carla Pryne gave a fabulous talk, using the evolution of Earth Ministry as a metaphor for the growth of the religious environmental movement over the last 20 years. And Jessie and I participated in a wide variety of plenary and break out sessions, learning a lot and sharing the good work of Earth Ministry. All in all, it was a great experience.I will say it’s a little hard to stay on track with walking when you’re in a conference 11 hours a day, and it’s hovering around 30 degrees outside…but Jessie and I did make it to the gym the first day we were there. Even though it wasn’t outside in creation, I think that counts for something!
We’re back now, and it was a watershed moment Monday when I decided (after getting home at 10pm the night before, equivalent to 1am Eastern Time) to take the day off. I have worked a fair number of the preceding weekends and have church obligations for the next three, so down time at home is at a premium right now. So I had a wonderful lazy day lounging about in my pajamas, reading a potboiler novel that Jessie had loaned me after she finished it on the 6 hour flight back from Newark. It was glorious, and most needed.
As they say though, no good deed goes unpunished. By taking the day off on Monday, I left a mountain of work for myself today. I still haven’t sorted through my email, I have 8 unanswered, urgent voicemail messages, I had three meetings today that I was marginally prepared for, and my to-do list after being gone almost a week is a mile long.
Case in point, it’s almost 7pm on Tuesday and I’ve just now realized that I need to write my blog entry for today. I’ll be lucky if I can reach one of the technically savvy EM staffers at home to post this for me tonight, otherwise it will have to wait until tomorrow, which will encroach on Kaitlin’s post for Wednesday. Hopefully she’ll forgive me!
All this is to say that I’m only human, and like for most everyone, some days are better than others. Monday was great, Tuesday not so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment