Four

(photo from the files of mompriest of BE 2.0, that's my foot at the 5:00 position)

In celebration of the RevGalBlogPals fifth anniversary of blogringing, I offer this reflection.

The summer of 2006 was primarily consumed by a job search, one I found myself in quite unexpectedly. It was for a position a bit above what I was doing at small church but with a strong social justice component, which appealed to me. If I got that job it would have required a move across country. In the end I did not get that job, a fact that really saddened me. A number of areas were a concern for me that summer, but if I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have worried about any of it. Hindsight being what it is....

The best part of that summer four years ago was an article I read in Christian Century about a blog ring for women clergy and their "pals". I didn't even know what a blog was, not really. I was busy trying to have a decent web page for small church and take care of all the details that become a part of the life of a solo pastor in small understaffed church.  But I liked the idea of a blog and of a community of like-minded ecumenical women invested in their faith with whom I could blog. And so, almost as soon as I put the magazine down, I googled RevGals and promptly started this blog.

The early years I blogged "anonymously" ergo the pseudonym "mompriest" which describes me - a mom and an Episcopal priest. In time I became less anonymous and even for a time used my real name. I still wonder about that, about using mompriest or my real name...but for now that's where I'm at.

It took me about 8 months of diligent blogging before I began to feel like there was a community of bloggers who were becoming my "friends." In the course of those 8 months I had a serious illness that landed me in the hospital for 11 days and on IV (pic-line) antibiotics for 9 more weeks. It was crazy! I also entered into a number of job searches and found the blog, while it was anonymous, a great place to ponder the search process with a group of people who would not be affected by it, as my small congregation would be. But mostly, what  remember about that first year was the poetry discussion that developed with Barb, Diane, Hotcup,  RevSS and Jan. Later a number of other bloggers became my close friends including BeachWalker and Deb. Soon I had a blog roll, like the one on the side of this blog, of people whose blog I read often.

Still, none of this would have developed if I had not had the almost daily support of Songbird. There were many days when her comments where the only ones I received but it was enough to keep me going. I'm grateful for that. MaryBeth has been a frequent reader and supporter too. It's been awesome to meet many of these friends in real life, especially at the Big Event 2.0 which I attended in the Spring of 2009.

See, there are so many friendships that have formed in these four years. I am so grateful for so many (you know who you are) who have become an important part of my life....

I have also been gifted with the opportunity to write posts for the RevGals blog, which is another level of writing for me - prayers, poems, book reviews, groups discussions are just a few examples. I'm not a "good" writer, but I do enjoy it. (Makes me wish I had stayed in that boring "technical writing" class instead of transferring out to the creative writing class).

Much has changed in my life over these four years. But through it all I am grateful for the RevGals, who have been a source of inspiration, love, support, grace, prayers, hope, and witness of a living God.