Friday Five Zzzzzzz....

This week the Rev Gal Pals are thinking about sleep. God knows I could use some!

1. In what kind of environment do you sleep best? I like to have a cold nose and warm toes. I cannot sleep if my feet are cold. I like a pillow under my head and one to hold. (My husband will only snuggle when he's awake. So pillow it is!) I like it fairly dark, but I'm flexible. Pajamas? That's a personal question

2. How much sleep do you need to feel consistently well-rested? 8 to 9 hours How much can you get by on? 7 What are the consequences when you don't get enough? If I go too long with too little I am bound to get first slap happy then cranky followed by weepy.

3. Night owl or morning person? My father is a classic morning person. Totally chipper and checking his email at 6:00am. My mother is a classic night owl watching old movies until 2:00am. Me? I'm a nap person.

I'm probably more my mother's child, I suppose. But I really like getting plenty of sleep. I hate being tired. So by 11:00pm, it's off to bed for me.

4. Favorite cure for insomnia Prescription drugs or sex.

5. To snooze or not to snooze? Why or why not? Snooze when you can! Sleep when the baby sleeps! Naps are a gift from God!

Personal or Professional?

I had to make a difficult decision this week at work. It was a professional decision, but like most difficult professional choices, it has personal ramifications. I prayed about my choices. I consulted my superiors and ultimately I made what I think was the best decision.

But it was painful.

Working for the church means that people often think that we must make our professional decisions with a different set of rules. But really, that doesn't make sense to me. If I were a banker or a lawyer or a carpenter- I would make my decisions in the same way I do now. My choices are influenced greatly by my faith, but so are the decisions of millions of other faithful people. Just because the church doesn't sign their paychecks doesn't mean that they aren't using the same guidelines that I use.

If church institutions are going to remain viable, we have to make wise choices. Good professional choices.

There will be an ache inside me for quite a while, I know. But I pray that I made the right choice and if I was wrong, that forgiveness is not an elusive thing.