Since accepting the new job here in Saskatoon, my general mood has been on the up: excited to leave a disheartening scenario, eager to prove my calling to love God and neighbour (especially the lest of these) in a long term care setting as authentic, looking forward to a bigger and wider social panorama in my new city, the prospect of owning a house with a garden I can call my own: these are all aspects of change that, while nerve racking and stressful, I nevertheless welcomed and looked forward to. So when I arrived at St. Ann's this morning to start my new job, I was filled with optimism and hope: a new day, a new beginning, another chance.
This sense of optimism was bolstered when I walked through the front doors of my new workplace. Smiling faces, handshakes, hellos and welcomes - it was as if I was arriving at a place where people had been waiting for me a long time already. A strange and humbling feeling, to be sure.
My first day went as most first days go: introductions, tours of the facility, more introductions, paperwork, orientation, and so on. In the coming days and weeks, as I adjust to this new living place, the new will become the usual, the unknown will slowly be learned and uncovered, and I will eventually come to a place of comfort that will enable me to be the welcoming face to strangers - residents and staff alike - here at St. Ann's.
That is my prayer: that God would bless this new start. May God heal me from my brokenness, so that I can be an agent of healing in the lives of others also. May God grant me the strength to start anew, so that I would be able to encourage others too to continue their life-battles. May God give me the humility to accept other people's acts of hospitality and kindness, so that I know what it feels like to be helpless and alone. May God bring friends into my life, so that I can be a friend to others also.
Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner!
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