Good morning…
“The unexamined life is not worth living,” famously said Socrates. I am not sure I totally agree, “not worth living” may be an absurd absolute. Instead I would say, “An examined life is much more enjoyable.” We live the stuff of life once, and, as we examine it and re-examine it, we make deeper connections, we incorporate purposeful meaning, and we see our one-of-a-kind life, the highs and the lows, through grateful eyes with God. Before the rhythm of fall returns, I find it helpful to unpack my top ten experiences from Summer 2018.
10. Savoring a slower summer pace while on hiatus from my church work and our everyday blog.
9. Making it through menopause, saying goodbye to my final menstrual cycle at age 55 years and 3 months.
8. Powering through five straight days of writing descriptions, categories, and metadata to transfer 546 old blog posts from our first, free blog site to our new-and-improved website.
7. Marveling at God, month by month, as my small handful of spiritual direction clients are fortified from inside out, right before my very eyes.
6. Texting and talking, sharing meals and walking with close friends, both my besties and our couple-friends.
5. Celebrating with extended family in Ohio at the first wedding of one of my parents’ twelve grandkids.
4. A ten day visit with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law’s family on Tingley Lake in New Milford, PA, our family’s favorite place on earth.
3. Snapping pictures of God everywhere and pushing through hard learning to add photos to our daily blog.
2. God gradually making peace and me beginning to feel a natural flow of love between myself and my hardest person.
1. While adjusting to our emptying nest, savoring one-on-one coffee talks, cooking and sharing meals together, and coming-and-going from under the same roof as a family of six during our only summer of enjoying kids ages 23, 21, 19, and 17.
“An examined life is much more enjoyable,” says Sue Allen. Might it be helpful to unpack your top ten experiences from Summer 2018?
But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth (John 3:33, MSG).
…Sue…
