Bringing all things together

Last week in the Ephesians Bible study I co-lead with a sophomore student we were talking about how God's plan is to bring together all things under the head of Jesus.....

Essentially we were talking about large scale reconciliation in the world.....but also reconciliation in relationships, etc.

Recently, I've been feeling very torn, pulled actually sometimes into several different directions--the needs of IV at campus, the girls in my house, Anacostia, looking for a church, DC area new monastic friends, other DC area friends, taking a fitness instructor course, getting oriented to the city, thinking of when to visit my brother and family, the list goes on.....

One of my big prayers over the past few weeks has been for some unity in my life, not this feeling that I'm needing to accomplish 50 different things in a day schedule that only allows time for 30. Overextension and the stress from that are a mark and characteristic of the overcommited culture of this city and the students I see at Georgetown daily. Especially because of this, I desire to display that stress and busyness as an attitude and reality are not the only way--that there can be peace and a way through the rubble of scheduling.

Some of the ways I've seen God beginning to pull some things together in my life.....
-seeing good friends of mine from college choose the church I think will be my out of Anacostia church.
-in our community visioning meeting, we're been talking about acting as a bridge to the rest of the city that holds a lot of stereotypes about our section of town. This pulls together home, Georgetown, and some of our other friends--and begins to alleviate some of the stress I've felt about not being as involved/known in the neighborhood as I'd like. If our purpose is possibly different, the perspective can change some too.
-seeing a lot of themes of catholicism in my life--Georgetown as a catholic school, coleading with a catholic student, probably attending a catholic church in our neighborhood, making friends with a catholic volunteer house down the street.
-having a couple of friends with flex daytime schedules. Hoping I can get together with them during some of these times to keep myself sane....and from working from 9am-midnight every day without stopping.....at least mentally taking a break.
-getting a bit more time in Anacostia weekly, allowing for me and a housemate to spend time together volunteering, making connections....and possibly some day bringing down students to join us!
-starting to feel loved and respected by students....never meant to be the goal, but it is filling some of the hole I feel from being gone from William and Mary.