Respite

Late last week my mother called to say she was going to cancel her trip to Laughlin, Nevada because my sister had injured her back and couldn't travel. On other occasions, my response would have been, "Oh bummer. Guess you'll have to reschedule."

This time, my response was, "Unacceptable!" The difference is the logistics needed for mom to get away. As I mentioned before, my dad is currently under in-home hospice care and the program allows one 5-day opportunity for respite care. For mom to get away took countless phone calls with healthcare providers and social workers. For me to accompany her took a weekend's worth of doing my day job, including going in to the office on the holiday, and getting my ducks in a row.

I originally felt this sudden trip was one I was doing for my mother and, in the sense that I'm letting her drive the agenda, it is. But, despite the fact that I'm checking in with the office a couple of times a day, this is a good bit of respite for me, as well.

The seminary does a nice job of scheduling in respite times each semester -- it's called Reading Week. But for the large group of students who are holding down full-time jobs, that week becomes one of working overtime to catch up on neglected duties and taking what little time is left to attend to neglected family and school work. In short, there's very little rest for seminarians with families and jobs.

So, I'm taking a little time to reflect during this impromptu vacation on the craziness of the last semester -- one where I took a class, worked a job, did an intense internship on a cancer unit in a large hospital, provided assistance to my parents, loved my spouse, moved to a small room where I live for half of my week away from my home and family. While I think this is something I don't care to repeat (although I will be continuing this life until May), I can't think of which pieces I can cut out.

It's during these rare quiet times that I realize that, like many of my classmates, I am driven and encouraged by something greater than myself. Over the Christmas weekend, I woke up repeatedly thinking of the hymn "Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me." I have to say, the Spirit has fallen on me so much during the past several months that the outside observer would think the Spirit may have imbibed in too many spirits.

I start my J-term 3-week intensive class on Monday. In 3 weeks' time, we accomplish the same amount of work as what is done in a regular semester. I'll be able to use a little vacation time (but less than I had planned because of my current detour), but the internship and family situation cannot be put on hold. Spirit, don't be too graceful. Fall as you may. I am ready.

- Jayne Helgevold, MDiv student