Dear Ones, Is it still an act of kindness if it is not delivered? A couple days ago, my 9-year-old sonshine and I were grocery shopping. At the check out, a mother was trying to understand her bill. She didn’t have enough money for her milk and cheese. The grocery store manager removed the items […]
Dear Hearts, For the past six months I’ve devoted significant time and imagination to JOYFUeL. If you’ve read my site for a few years, you may remember–or may have even joined me for the JOYFUeL ecourse adventure! Well, JOYFUeL is still very much alive and breathing… and becoming a propelling force of love intending JOY […]
(A personal reflection on mothering and parenthood.) “Music is not in the notes but in the silence between.” ~Wolfy Mozart Being a mother is ever changing. It’s not a role to “ACE” or master. Motherhood offers a chance–just like all roles we play in life–to learn, grow and emerge–rinse and repeat. My pace does not […]
Dear Hearts, On Valentine’s Day 3,000 people of different religious faiths gathered to celebrate coexistence and sing Matisyahu’s prayerful song, One Day. This collaboration and video offers an incredible example of the power of community and song, combined with vision. We can transcend our differences to cocreate one vision of peace, love and acceptance on […]
Hello Dearhearts! Last year so many people cheered me on and backed my attendance at the Appalachian State Expressive Arts Therapy Institute, in North Carolina. Thank you so very much! Through your kindness and generosity –and my husband’s holding of the fort — I was given time and space to deepen my own heART […]
Hello Dearhearts, Past few weeks have been a whirlwind whoosh of blessings and challenges. It’s a real life: a miraculously blessed, magical and sometimes painful one. So here I am, pinching myself in front of y’all, to make sure I savor this JOY, sharing one of my greatest memories from the past week and […]
The look on Sonshine’s face is amazing! You can feel the astonishment with him.
All of what you are talking about, I did, in the late seventies. I started on the path to being a UU Minister. It was a crazy thing to do, but I really felt “called,” in the sense that this profession seemed to pull together most everything I was and wanted. 3 years of seminary, meeting with the “Fellowshiping Committee” and being told to take a course at Meadville Theology School in Chicago on UU History, and after that, being an Intern at a UU congregation in Lincroft, NJ, being Ordained there and finally becoming a REAL “REV” Joan Gelbein! The 15 years I spent as minister in Arlington VA were some of the best years of my life. I was right – it was a scary challenge and I did it–and how I loved the work! I WAS really suited to the work and did a great job. There were moments of anxiety and “what am I doing here?” — but I kept on going. The “Guidance Moment” I had was when I took a workshop in what will you on with your life, led by a elder UU minister. We wrote about out history and he outlined all I wrote that indicated my loves and skills. He said to me, “How about becoming a Worship Specialist?” It was in the 70’s and I had become moved by Feminism. So, I chose to follow a path of ministry instead!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing both the picture and the thoughtful words!
Every photo of your three radiant children that you share always makes our hearts bubble with happiness. Thank you for Sonshine! And thank you for the loving gifts left on the porch today!