Tomorrow evening will mark one year of being here. It’s been a quick year, and so much still seems very new. There are a huge number of people that I’ve yet to meet, and a variety of tasks that I’ve not got round to yet. However the year has not been quiet. In a conversation with someone last night I wondered if the year had been exceptional for the unusual things that have happened, but I’ve a funny feeling that this is a place of unusual things. So thank goodness I didn’t come into ministry looking for 9-5 routine, instead I’m clasping the chaos and hoping that a smile allows for the forgiveness of all my inadequacies.

Things I’ve learnt this year.

1. There are only 7 days a week each containing 24 hours, and for at least 6 of those hours sleep is necessary. No matter how I try I cannot expand time to include everything I would like to do and will have to learn to live with the feeling that not everything is happening.
2. It needs to be dark for me to go to sleep.
3. it is very difficult to get three people with full time jobs and a keen interest in the world, in the same room at the same time for a meeting, and even more difficult when it comes to eight.
4. Children adapt quickly.
5. It is not wrong to trust the session clerks.
6. Leaving behind the knowledge of 10 years is very difficult, it can leave you feeling uncertain about the choices you are making. The strange sensation of driving somewhere and suddenly knowing that you need to go and visit someone is still to come into play as you learn new people.
7. It helps to have a husband who knows you love what you do, and forgives you for getting lost in the study or at the church or on the phone or at a meeting. Thank goodness he is housetrained.
8. A smile sometimes mean the questions are less hard.
9. It might just be fun!
10. No matter how many times you walk through the door, it still looks enormous when you climb into the pulpit. And only I notice that the gaps where I suddenly can’t find the words to say or the confidence to say them. To everyone else it sounds like a dramatic pause to catch their attention.

I’ve probably given away some of my secrets there. It’s not everything I’ve discovered. And I know there is still so much more to uncover.

Will the honeymoon period be over? Who can tell? Not everything this year has been plain sailing, as learning how to be minister and congregation together always throws up moments where differing histories clash and common ground is sought. I’m sure this next year will have its moments as well, as other old and new things happen. However a smile can sometimes help, and when it is really hard, trusted friends can offer ears and words and sometimes wipe tears.