"I have just sent my response form to the Spiritual Direction Certification program that's at LTSS in Columbia, SC to let them know that I plan to join the program in January. It requires two onground intensives each year of the 2 year program, and the rest is done online. I'm really looking forward to being part of this program!"
So far, that post has 53 likes and 19 comments. It's interesting to see the wide variety of people who have liked/commented: high school friends, college friends, friends of college friends, grad school friends, family, retreat friends, local church friends, colleague friends from past jobs. It's made me feel connected, supported, and loved.
Even though I was fairly sure that I'd get into the program, I'm still oddly relieved to get the official notification. When I pulled it out of the mailbox, I thought, hmm, it's a thin envelope. I remembered long ago when I first applied to colleges back in the early 80's--a thin envelope meant a rejection.
I spent part of yesterday writing to people: the pastor friend who first told me about the program, the director of the certificate program, the friend who has encouraged me for over a decade to explore this direction with more purpose.
Why has it taken me so long to explore this direction, to get certified? For part of those years, I thought I might rather go to seminary. For part of those years, I couldn't visualize how the programs I looked at might actually fit with my life--and many of those programs wouldn't have fit with my life as well as this one will. Some distance programs require a 2 week residency--that's tough in most of the jobs I've had. Or the residency has been at a time in the academic term that would be a tough sell to my boss about why I had to be away.
Or maybe those are just cover stories--maybe I was just scared.
Or maybe I had other projects that felt more pressing--jobs and houses and poems and family. On and on the list could go.
I am so excited about this program. And I am excited about the future, even though I'm not exactly sure what that future looks like.
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