catapult magazine

cino network logo
catapult magazine
 

The Seventh Day

Vol 2, Num 16 :: 2003.08.01 — 2003.08.14

 
 

*cino needs a nap

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Lately, I find myself asking too often?is this really what life is supposed to be like?

We are working 14-16 hour days at three or four different jobs, none of which can be abandoned (or so we have ourselves convinced). There is little time to sleep, less time to eat, and practically no time at all to enjoy nature and the company of family and friends. I am beginning to understand why Dorothy Day, a dedicated social activist who spent nearly all of her waking hours caring for others, titled her autobiography The Long Loneliness

. I know this is not the way life is supposed to be.


I also know that some of this work is temporary. Once the store we?re starting is up and running, there will be far less building and painting and organizing to be done. Once certain articles are finished, I can mark something off the master list. Once web sites are complete and online, they will virtually run themselves. Virtually?but not completely.


All of these projects will still require maintenance work and if I?m to continue, I need a bit of maintenance as well. For this reason, we?ll be taking the month of August off from publishing new issues on culture is not optional?s online magazine. Ah, a month away from the bi-weekly demand?it?s certainly welcome and necessary.


We?ve also made the decision to cancel the western U.S. ^camping is not optional trip that was supposed to occur in August. When the idea was suggested, I suddenly felt incredibly lighter and could not deny that it was the right thing to do. We?ll see you folks out west next year?and hopefully, we will have done some thinking between now and then about the structure and effectiveness of our camping trips.


These exercises, while difficult in various ways, are good for us as individuals and as an organization. By taking a step back, we humbly recognize the might of God?that the work will not go undone, that the world will not go unchanged without us. There is a certain comfort for me in the wisdom of a fellow friend in ministry that the only institution that is guaranteed to survive is the Church. If a particular ministry must disband, that resignation is not necessarily failure, but an acknowledgement that its role has been completed within the larger structure of God?s Kingdom.


This is not to say that cino is ready to call it quits?just to take a brief sleep. We?ll be back September 5 with a special first anniversary issue on community and lots of new stuff online for your perusal. So?good night for now, friends!

your comments

comments powered by Disqus