Excerpts from a letter

My mother had a saying she would pull out when she wanted to describe an event in which we went out and came back without having accomplished our intention. “The king of Spain marched up the hill and then marched down again,” Evidently it’s based on an actual military maneuver now lost in history. It also is a pretty apt description of my summer. While it’s not accurate to say that things haven’t been accomplished, it is accurate to say that I’ve “marched down again”. I have made a strong decision to pick up the threads of my life, weave them into a slightly different pattern, and so we go on. The medical community has yet to come to consensus about when is the time for me to have a bone marrow transplant. Most opinions vote for now. However, the physicians hired by the insurance company hold the power and their opinions indicate that I should wait. For what is unclear, but the point is that I closed my spiritual direction practice at the end of April because I had full expectation of going off in May to Baptist Hospital at Wake Forest for treatment. That didn’t happen and I’ve sat and discerned that I’ve waited long enough. I’m going back to work at Givens Estates in a week or so, this time part time and only with ministries which will lighten the load considerably. And I’m resuming my spiritual direction practice as of the first week of September. My energy level is better. The break from work at Givens has been beneficial. I feel restored enough that I long for the meaningful work of my vocation.