Extra Ordinary Beginnings

There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world

and give birth to new ideas and ventures.

There are times of flourishing and abundance,

when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding.

And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end.

They have reached their climax

and must be harvested before they begin to fade.

And finally of course,

there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty,

times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream.

Those rhythms in life are natural events.

They weave into one another as day follows night,

bringing, not messages of hope and fear,

but messages of how things are.
- Chogyam Trungpa

With the arrival of the season of Advent on Sunday, December 2, the beginning of a new liturgical year, I was fittingly off to begin a long awaited new adventure of my own. I love the seasons and cycles of life that provide order and meaning to our days, the peaks and valleys, the days of celebration and sadness. This particular ending and beginning happened so naturally and smoothly, I can attribute it to nothing other than divine intervention. In the beginning of October when I decided my time at my current job was done, that I had fulfilled my purpose there to the best of my ability, I began adamantly searching for new employment. The quality of my work was plummeting because I no longer believed in the mission of the organization. I saw glimpses of myself slipping into becoming a person that I did not want to be, so for preservation of self, I believed I had to move on. I daily checked every online job listing service that I could find as well as our local newspaper. I applied for everything that I was even remotely qualified to do and sent out dozens of resumes. With my husband's also recent career change this past summer, my income was, for the first time, vital and essential to our well being, so I could not walk away from my situation without a replacement for that income. I didn't just want a "job" though, I wanted and needed a mission and a purpose, something to which I could feel good about making a valuable contribution, something to help me regain my spirit after experiencing the ills of community that I talked about in my previous post.

People have to feel needed. Frequently, we just offer a job and ‘perks.’ We don’t always offer people a purpose. When people feel there is a purpose and that they’re needed, there’s not much else to do except let them do the work. - Maya Angelou

November rolled around, up to that point I had gotten no bites whatsoever. No one even remotely expressed an interest. One day (Monday, November 5th) I was just distraught and feeling a little empty, I wanted to see and experience the goodness in humanity again. During my lunch hour, after returning to the building from making my regular runs to the post office to pick up the daily mail and bank to make the weekly deposit, I got out of my car and I just wasn't ready to re-enter the building. I was feeling spent. Without forethought or purpose, I wandered onto the trail in the woods that surrounded our building and about midway through the trail I sat down on a bench and just started to cry and cry and cry for no apparent reason (As a side note I must convey that I am normally not a particularly emotional person - I usually do fairly well with keeping a balanced perspective on things.).

Then, I began to have a long talk with God, I emptied my heart to Him. I told Him that as much as I was ready to move one, that if it was His will for me to remain there and that there was still work that He needed for me to do and a purpose that I needed to fulfill at that place, that I would indeed stay. But I told Him I had lost my faith in humanity and if I was to be successful, he needed to give me something to hold on to and make that purpose in staying blatantly obvious so that I had something on which to focus and direct my energies. I didn't know what else to say. I laid down on the bench with my face to the sky in an attempt to regain my composure and just take a few minutes to enjoy the sights and sounds of a beautiful fall day in the woods. While I was in that position, I watched as a large pine cone high on the top of one of the nearby trees let go and fell to the earth. In attempts to provide a mental picture - pine cones in coastal South Carolina from our ever plentiful Long Leaf Pine trees (Pinus palustris Miller) are no small, laughing matter. The trees tower 80-100 ft. in the sky, mostly trunk with a crown at the top and the pine cones are typically 8 - 12 inches in length with an appropriate balance to their girth. This one was no exception. I took this as a sign that it was time for me to go inside, so I walked over and picked up the cone for safe keeping, finished out the trail and headed back to my desk.

The next morning as I was getting ready for work I got a call for an interview. It was the only response I ever got from any of the resumes that I sent out. The interview was to take place the following morning in Columbia, a 2 1/2 hour drive from my home. I had no expectations, I just thought it would be a fun day trip and stress release to get away alone with my thoughts and the road for a while, if nothing else. I was more confident and at ease than I had ever been in an interview -- after all I had just told God that I was willing to stay in my current position, so nothing was really weighing on this moment. I was free to just be the best version of myself.

During the course of the interview my future boss told me that she had only been in her position with this company a little over a year, but that "this job had restored her faith in humanity!" Coincidence? I think not! The interview lasted over 90 minutes, at the end of which I was sent home with the training manual and my interviewer was showing me the employee section of their website. Our conversation had flowed easily and we really seemed to "click" however I was told that the following day they would be conducting a few more interviews, one with someone from already inside the company and that they would be making their decision rather quickly, she hoped within a few days. I sent my requisite thank you letter and I waited over a week without hearing anything. I checked with my references - they were never contacted (to this day). I had been excited and energized after the interview, but again I was ready to let go. The next day, (Thursday, November 16th) I got "The Call." After making the offer, the HR manager asked if I needed some time to think it over before making my decision. I tried not sound too excited when I expressed, "No, I don't need any time to think it over, I will definitely accept the position." The next day, I gave my two weeks notice. A weight had been lifted.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
- Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

Finally, my time had come! Sunday, December 2nd, I entered a new chapter in The Life of Bop with a four and a half hour trip to the company's corporate headquarters, two nights stay in a really nice hotel, two days filled with orientation and training sessions, all for an extra ordinary beginning.

"Every end is a new beginning."