Still Walking with Me?

I arrived at Ridley Hall four weeks ago. I know it sounds hackneyed, but I’ll say it anyway. In some ways, it seems it was just yesterday. It is hard to believe that nearly a month has passed since I arrived bleary eyed and exhausted after a grueling twenty-something hour journey. I’ve more than made up my rest, to be sure. I’ve acquired some good habits, too. I am to bed at a decent hour – sometimes it is still light out, sort of. (It gets darker later here since we are at a higher latitude.) I walk – a lot – 10,000 steps no longer seem like an unreachable goal. In fact, I surpass it quite frequently these days. I read. And read. And read. (Did I tell you I love to read?) And, yes, I pray, too.

Something happened this morning that hasn’t happened in a great number of years. It was 4:35 a.m. I was suddenly wide awake and needed to get up, boot the computer and start typing. I had an idea – a creative thought. That kind of thing hadn’t happened to me since I was writing my doctoral dissertation over twenty years ago. Reading it this afternoon, it probably wasn’t as profound as I thought it was at that hour of the morning. But it did give me joy that creativity was still possible, that I wasn’t merely a hack stitching together strings of other people’s thoughts, that I could have thoughts of my own. Even if they were not going to change the course of time, they were still my thoughts – God’s gifts - something for which I am grateful.

It has been a great gift being here in Cambridge these several weeks. There was a time in my life when I really desired a career in the academy. However, it was not to be for reasons I will not describe here. And now, that opportunity is well past. But the taste of it that this time has afforded will be fondly remembered. And the best part? It isn’t over yet. There is still more to come. Stay tuned. I only hope I don’t’ need to be up at 4:30 too often to have more profound insights!