Beloved

This morning at First Congo, the message was especially meaningful to me. I think I struggle from time to time with feeling worthless, well maybe not that severe, maybe just not what I am meant to be, like I will never live up to whatever THAT is. Last week was about trusting yourself and it was uplifting as well, but this was different and gave me some fresh perspective on God and His view of us.

I wrote down a few quotes from our Rev. Cheryl Cornish to share that meant a lot to me.

"God is saying,"You are beloved; you are significant in this universe.""
"How do we make the thousand small choices well?"
"Life is MORE than survival. We want to thrive." (emphasis added)
"You are beloved always: from the beginning to the end."

And then after giving and example of a person with internal conflict about a life change, like when they wanted to leave a job, if they are unhappy, etc. :
"This isn't how you were meant to live, because you are beloved."

Almost two weeks....

I kept meaning to write, thinking of these fantastic things to say about the past almost two weeks that I have been back in Memphis since moving in to my house. The time with Mom and Olivia was great.... I miss them. The fear of loneliness set in strongly for a few days. But, like I said in my last post, work started on Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Guess what? It is amazing. More than I even hoped.

It is so wierd, really. My boss trusts my judgement. He doesn't need to know about every step of the process. He believes that unless I tell him otherwise, I know what I am doing. He trusts that I will ask his advice or opinion or for his help if I need or desire it. Otherwise, the work will get done and we will, we hope, be successful. We both started Monday, and we did some lab work on Tuesday. Talk about a fast start in a brand new lab. Things are going well with the project so far, even in its infancy. I have been doing lots of ordering. We need everything.

My experience in Memphis so far, has been nothing short of amazing... I was so worried, and kept having these, "I hate Memphis" moments, but it turns out this city is nothing like what I thought. The people I have met have been amazing. The church I am attending, First Congregational (aka First Congo) is full of love and hope and community. My little community as a whole, Cooper-Young, is small and intimate and alive. I see some of the same people at yoga that I see at church and then I even see them at work. Last night I went to Java Cabana after some consignment shopping and grocery shopping, and then went to dinner with Doug, a guy I met last week at Java Cabana. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell that I went to TGIF yoga Friday night, which was awesome once again.