Small Victories are Just as Sweet

Some days are hard. The other day I had a counseling session with a couple that are in great distress, and it was heartbreaking, as such meetings often are. I went home grateful for my training,  for a colleague with whom to debrief, and for a good husband with which to decompress.

But other days are just sweet. Yesterday ended up being one of those days. My wonderful summer seminarian (she is interning with me for June and July) and I went to visit a family that had come to our church for the first time a week ago. It was one of those visits where they are hungry for a faith community, even if they can't clearly articulate what it is they are looking for. Whatever I said seemed to be the right thing. Every time I tried to gracefully leave, because their preteen son was obviously tired, they had one more question - and those questions were good deep questions about their faith journey. Dad wants to be baptized. Son wants to be baptized. Mom is already baptized, but wants a faith family for learning and support. I sent them a copy of the baptismal covenant, because I think that praying and meditating on what our commitment is when we ask to be baptized is important (yes, we do other preparation as well, but the starting point is thinking about those words). It was a lovely conversation, and I look forward to being a part of their journey.

Last Friday, I picked up my new car, Princess Victoria (she is, after all, a Prius V, so the name really suggested itself). She replaces Saabie, who gave 14 years of faithful service but was getting too expensive to fix, and there were many things that needed fixing. So we got the new one, at a fair price, and with 0.9 financing. A lovely thing...

Today has also been sweet. After eight weeks of paperwork Sheol, we finished the refinance on our mortgage, at a shockingly low rate (we had locked in our rate before they started to creep up again). This morning we sat and signed a whole lot of pages, and it is done. Whew! I had a good conversation with a parishioner who has suffered much tragedy in her life, and has found the remarkable moments of grace in the midst of it. Some days I learn much more than I teach, and that conversation was one of them.

StrongOpinions is down for a few days' visit and it has been a good, drama-free one. She'll head north this evening and we will be glad for her visit and glad to go back to our regular routines. All is well.

Although I am behind on my reading for the DMin class that begins on 7/15. I'm not terribly worried about it. I know I can crank it out in time, at least well enough to avoid total embarrassment.

Life is good. Some people need great big honkin' successes to feel that way. For me, the small victories will do the job just fine.

Hope your day reveals some of those small victories...