Life Changes

So, this is it.  I am now Rev. Whitney Blackburn-Lynch.

Interesting, I don't feel all that different.  I don't feel like I have a lot of changes to make in my life.  I feel like I have been preparing for this day for some time.

In addition to becoming a reverend, I will be heading back to graduate school in the fall.  I will be going back for a PhD in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.  I have spent a lot of time thinking about this.  Wondering if this is the right step, or perhaps just one more attempt at running from my calling to ministry. 

While I was at the retreat, my call to ministry became much more clear.  It is my job to help people find themselves, and become aware of their whole self; the mind, the body, the emotion, the spirit.  But it isn't only that.  No matter how aware of "self" we are, we cannot be whole so long as we are living on a planet that is suffering at our hands.

We need elements that the planet has to offer.  We are conditioned to a certain level of comfort.  And the Earth has many gifts and resources to offer us.  But that doesn't mean we should abuse the Earth.  We have to work in concert with the planet so that we can sustain our life and the life of everything around us.  I have faith that we can do this.  We can heal the planet, use the resources available to us and in that find wholeness.

Getting my PhD and doing research that is aimed at healing the breaking planet is as much a part of my ministry as the spiritual counseling and services I will perform.  Helping to bridge the gap so that instead of fighting over politics and emotion, we are actually taking legitimate steps toward respecting the planet and the gifts it has to offer is one of the things I am put here to do.

We cannot survive without the Earth.  And I believe that there are ways to use what we need of her (coal, metals, salts, etc.) and not kill her, and us in the process.  I also think that there are good ways to heal the planet that will not cost humanity jobs, comfort and life style.  The path is in the middle.  And we must bridge that.

So back to school I go.  And with that comes me attempting to figure out how to set up a ministry, how to get my name and myself and the services I can offer out there to the public.  And in addition, I think I am going to try to organize and use my zillions of pictures to make something, rather than just sit around taking up hard drive space.

I have lots of ideas.  Now to see how that goes.