Thank You, Blog

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic for me. As communications director for the monastery, I am editor of our magazine, Benedictine Sisters and Friends, which is published three times a year. The spring-summer issue is due at the printer tomorrow. I love putting together the magazine, working with our Editorial Board to determine the theme, engaging people to write some of the articles, having an opportunity to learn more about our community through the articles I, and others, research and write. I value the support of my colleagues. I value their input and encouragement and, with a little more difficulty, their critical eyes. Do you think, though, that when I am running around, desperately trying to get everything done, I'm actually thinking how grateful I am for all these things? Well, I'm not. I'm horrified when anybody asks me to do the smallest thing that takes me away from the Big Task - the Magazine. Having a passing conversation with anyone becomes a trial, not a joy (and I'm a person who loves visiting in normal circumstances). However, because I decided that I was going to write a blog on the subject, I set myself the task of thinking about what is good about the whole experience, and I came up, just off the top of my head, with all these things. It made me think that maybe it's a good idea, when anything seems stressful or difficult, to step back for a few moments and think about what's good in the situation. So, writing the blog has, I feel, taught me a valuable lesson. Thank you, Blog.

Karen Rose, OSB