Getting Lost in the Woods

  This past week I found myself working on the clergy report for my parish's annual meeting. Since there was never a formal report back to the parish about my sabbatical, I wrote a lengthy reflection on the gifts of sabbatical time. It seemed appropriate to share that part of the report here: ​ Sabbatical My sabbatical was a gift.  Primarily a gift of time and space.  I was away from parish life for four months, three months sabbatical time and one month of annual vacation time. As I look back and reflect on what God was up to in my life from May 21 to September 24, I can only smile and give thanks for the many ways God helped me to slow down and fill my inner well, which quite honestly, was dangerously low in places.  As well as, for the ways, the gifts of sabbatical are continuing to flourish within me.  This summer away from parish life was the first time in my adult life that I had ever been given the opportunity to slow down. The summer after I graduated from Saint Anselm Coll