Today is promotion Sunday at our church. A day to gather our church community after a summer of well, summer schedules, and somewhat bring us all back to a every week to church alignment. It’s a fun Sunday in that we introduce the children to their age group’s teachers and admire just how they’ve grown. It brings to mind for me that each year I pause to reflect how much I have grown. Learning is life long if we are fortunate, and I want to be one of the fortunate to not have an annual repeating of the mistakes I make in life, or at least not an annual reflection day. 🙂
I was a fortunate child, community citizens, caretakers, and family friends poured into our town. From historical societies that taught me how to be a hostess for our Childester House Museum, to Girl Scout leaders who allowed me to learn how four girls selling cookies could pay for a summer tour for our troop across country, I had a blessed childhood. Summer ball teams, church choirs, and library clubs mean so much more than an hour away from home. It is in those moments that I learned how people in a community worked together. Our town had so many folks who seemed to know it takes a village to create a worthwhile community, and so it was.
Today Les and I will welcome the young adults to our Sunday School class. We’ll begin the fall with a course called “Pressure Points”, a study by Chip Henderson. Back to school is a time where so many of us are facing pressure points. I know in government families, or at least ours, just as the Sequester hits our paychecks, the tuition payments are arriving. We are fortunate, but so many families are having sincere hardship this summer and fall over the federal deficit Sequester hitting their direct paycheck for 22 missing days of pay. Others are facing moves, new schools, leaving what they know for college, and new jobs. Pressure points are happening in our every day life and it’s time to face them head on!
Today is a day of reflection, one that I take annually to affirm, acknowledge, and become aware that another year of learning is about to begin. As a former educator, I find August is filled with possibilities…and it excites me to take time each year to lay out my blueprint for personal and professional growth as school years begin. Old habits die hard I suppose. There is something very special about today, and I encourage you to adopt it as your own “Promotion Sunday”…what will you join this year? What will you celebrate about your own growth? What will you promote yourself to being fully present with or becoming aware of? I promise, I’ll cheer you on with whatever it is you seek to grow yourself into being….why not take an afternoon off to reflect how far you’ve come and how much you have learned and set the stage for your new experience this fall. What will you learn this year? I’ve added a few from my list below:
- This year, I am learning that time for myself is as important as time for anyone or anything else.
- This year, I am re-learning that moving my body is fun and supports my fitness.
- This year, I am choosing to rethink food as fuel, and seeking flavors, and textures I enjoy and are healthier.
- This year, I am choosing to celebrate the small accomplishments, the consistency which brings larger ones.
- This year, I will write others more often to affirm how important they are to me, and to appreciate others more often.
I have found that my life rather aligns to whatever goals I put on paper and /or keep in my visual paths…and so these become statements on the back of my office door, a framed art piece of statements on my desk, and in my dressing area. I have 20 total, five in my personal life, five for my professional life, five for my spiritual life and five for my parenting life. Some are measurable, others are more theological in nature…a different focus on why and how I do things.
What will you get excited about setting the course for this day if it were your “Promotion Sunday?”
