We're now over a month into the Fall SBFM and the students have settled into a bit of a routine. They rush to make their coffee in the morning as they run out the door to lecture, then they encamp themselves all over the couches and kitchen table doing homework in the afternoons. They would tell you that their enthusiastic early mornings and afternoon beach breaks of the first weeks now feel like a lifetime ago.
I, on the other hand, have struggled to get into a routine this past month since the students moved in. The routine of life in this old house dances by me, and I feel out of step. My computer crashed nearly a month ago and left me scattered in my administrative work for the school. Its hard to borrow laptops here and there and try not to worry that I'm forgetting something. Usually I spend ages just sitting in front of my screen fine tuning and thinking through details- this semester I feel I am always just pounding out the bare necessities on the fly. I don't like to operate that way, so it makes me nervous. But so far, so good. I have had the grace to just live the day in front of me. I do think it takes up a certain amount of my energy reserves... resulting in my needing quite a lot of sleep.
However, this week, things have begun to fall into at least the semblance of a rhythm. This is largely due to my receiving word that the computer specialists managed to salvage most of my data from a corrupted hard drive- and then my generous family investing in a laptop for me to put that data on. I say invested because its more than a gift. Its a ministry investment. My laptop is possibly my most essential ministry tool. I serve in areas of administration, communication, teaching, training, etc... and to do these things requires organization and preparation. So my laptop is a vital part of the ministry I am involved with on a daily basis. Sure, sometimes my role is mentoring over coffee, or standing up in an Asian village with just my bible and a few hasty scribbled notes. But for most of the year, I am part of a staff responsible for organizing and conducting training for other young missionaries. All that to say that the arrival of my new computer was an enormous blessing, allowing me to get back up to speed with my SBFM responsibilities.
I still don't quite have my personal morning routine in place- probably because I haven't been drinking coffee with my former regularity... but now I am starting to get there. In the meantime, I just take it one morning at a time- and live the day in front of me.
