NAS: Back in the Swing of Things!

We are back! As we get into the swing of things with NAS, what other ways can we be more involved at church or in our communities? Is there a parish ministry you have been wanting to help with or start up? What about that after school program for homeless kids? Has something been preventing you from getting involved? How do you think this will help you personally, spiritually, and emotionally?

Hello, ladies! It is so wonderful to be back to our weekly conversations! For those who are new to the series, please check out our hostesses with the most-essness, Jen and Morgan (this week’s link-up). For those “meeting” me for the first time, check out the “About” tab. I started this series as a profoundly single woman, and a few months in, just so happened to meet the love of my life. And now we’re engaged! This community means so much to me, and as a blogger on women’s spirituality and discussion of the faith and feminine, I find singleness to be a topic that while personally I am done with, still one I have much to say about in  general. So if you don’t mind, I’ll still be linking up with my reflections from my season and maybe some I-may-be-off-the-market-but-still-your-girlfriend advice.

So, onward to the topic! I LOVE it! This prompt is the jolt of energy I need to get cracking on a project I’ve been wanting to do for the past couple months. At the ToB Conference this summer, I attended a group session led by a Sister of Life and learned from one of the other women about a women’s group called Endow. This multi-age conversation group connects women with each other and with their faith and starts by discussing Pope St. John Paul II’s Letter to Women. Chatting with the women of the conference was exactly what I didn’t know I needed.

I’ve been in various Catholic communities for various amounts of time–like relationships or states of life, involvement in such communities had their seasons. My last years in Boston were spent out of  formal community or groups, and this worked for me. But this summer with the move occurring, I found myself desiring that kind of companionship. So I told Mr. Sweet I was looking into maybe starting an Endow group at our parish. He is amazing and supportive and also a dude. Sorry, honey! But he gets that I need to make new friends, share female experiences with other women, and plunk down some roots, instead of having them wrap entirely around him.

For a romantic relationship is not the be-all, end-all of an existence. One single person cannot be your sole support or way of understanding yourself. At least, no completely human person. Jesus, now He’s a guy we can wrap ourselves (think soul, not body!) around and lean on entirely. God, as our Father, is another. The Author of our lives, He is the best lens through which to understand our selves and role in this world. But the Trinity also has given us the great gift of life in this world with other people. We have brothers and sisters.

So I am in touch with the Endow facilitators, who are already working on getting approval to have the groups start at parishes in my new archdiocese. Starting or joining such a group will fulfill the renewed personal desire for community, round out an emotional life at a hectic time (oh, wedding planning), and draw me closer to God.

Anyone with experience in Endow?