Friday Five: Positive Potpourri

Will Smama has the Friday Five from RevGals this week:

Greetings friends! It's been awhile since I've contributed to the posts here at
the revgalblogpals website, but I agreed to step into the Fifth Friday of the
Month Friday Five slot.

So here I be.

As I zip around the
webring it is quite clear that we are getting BUSY. "Tis the season" when clergy
and laypeople alike walk the highwire from Fall programming to Christmas
carrying their balancing pole with family/rest on the one side and turkey
shelters/advent wreaths on the other.

And so I offer this Friday Five
with 5 quick hit questions... and a bonus:

1) Your work day is done and the brain is fried, what do you do?

Stay at the office and do some posting on the Husker bulletin boards at the Lincoln Journal-Star website. Because, let's face it, with two girls under the age of two at home, there ain't no rest at home until at least one of them is asleep.

2) Your work week is done and the brain is fried (for some Friday, others Sunday afternoon), what do you do?

Fridays I try to get home and go for a walk or something similar with Kris & the girls. Sundays, if I'm lucky, I get two hours to read through the Sunday paper. I'm not a napper, so Kris takes my preacher's nap for me and I read the paper, IF the girls are both asleep. Hasn't happened much lately.

3) Like most of us, I often keep myself busy even while programs are on the tv. I stop to watch The Office and 30 Rock on Thursday nights. Do you have 'stop everything' tv programming or books or events or projects that are totally 'for you' moments?

Anytime my beloved Cornhuskers are on TV. Anyone who knows me knows better than to interrupt anything Cornhusker. Beyond that, we love our new DVR because we can just wait until we've got time to catch anything else. I do like to read, also, but lately that's been a struggle since I'm getting home after 10:30 several nights a week and that doesn't lead to quality reading. I also love to do yard work, but again, with our girls it's sometimes impossible to do what I'd like to do.

4) When was the last time you laughed, really laughed? What was so funny?

Last night, at Theology on Tap, when I asked D why he keeps coming back to our faith community, and he immediately answered, "Guilt." :-)

5) What is a fairly common item that some people are willing to go cheap on, but you are not.

Beer and/or coffee. Life is far too short to drink cheap versions of either one. Also, shoes. I've paid over $100 for each of the last three pairs of 'work' shoes I've bought (black & brown Dr. Marten's boots and a pair of Born dress boots), but they are all at least four years old and showing no signs of wearing out.

Bonus: It's become trite but is also true that we often benefit the most when we give. Go ahead, toot your own horn. When was the last time you gave until it felt good?

This is going to sound a bit weird, but I've been doing much better at pastoral care since I moved to this new call, and it feels good. Pastoral care is NOT something I do well; I've always been far more of the "preach and teach" pastor, and I've learned to be honest about that so that folks understand who I am and why some things they might expect from a pastor are difficult for me. But a few of our students have come to me for 'counseling,' and I've found myself able to do it, and do it well, I think. Not that I'm going to be looking for a chaplain's call anytime soon - I'd no more ask people to let me do that than I would ask them to let me remove their appendix. But it feels good to know that something I've always considered a weakness is improving, even if it'll never be my strong suit. So, no, it's not "giving until it feels good," per se, but I think it fits the spirit of the question. Besides, it's my blog, right? :-)