MHoggard_Lesson_11_Talent: Missional Priorities

[Margaret Hoggard]

Question 3. Our missional priorities can change over time, and as we get older, they become more pronounced. How are you sensing stability or change in your personal mission during this season of life?

As I am getting older and facing transitions, I am aware of both freedoms and limitations at this stage of my life. While I have more time to be in relationship with God, I don’t have the energy or the physical capacity to serve my faith communities in the same ways that I did when I was younger. As well, the need to care for others in my family has become more intense and my role as care-giver factors into my priorities. The great blessings of the Internet and social media have allowed me to maintain a connection to other believers even when health challenges that I and my loved ones are experiencing pose physical boundaries.

My health has suffered after having spent many years working at a frantic pace, so paying attention to activities that will improve and then maintain my physical well-being as much as possible has become very important to my ability to fulfill my mission. Presently, I serve as I can, through intercessory prayer groups, coordinating an online mission group, and directing an initiative that supports grassroots Christian activities. While my flexibility to fill some roles has been somewhat reduced, I have gained more freedom for quiet time with God. This has led me to work on women’s ministry, chaplaincy, and spiritual development certifications and to pursue an in-depth study of the Holy Spirit that will ultimately lead to my dissertation.

I am not sure where this path will ultimately lead me, but I am feeling called to rekindle my abilities as a Christian writer, perhaps by means of a blog. To refer back to the image of a fruit tree that I mentioned in my post for Lesson 10, I feel that I am just emerging from a period of dormancy and what fruit might emerge in the coming years is in God’s hands. This prayer from Crosswalk.com is one that expresses my hopes and desires as I contemplate this stage of my life in Christ.

A MORNING PRAYER
God, please enlighten my mind with truth;
Inflame my heart with love;
Inspire my will with courage;
Enrich my life with service.
Pardon what I have been;
Sanctify what I am;
And order what I shall be.
Amen

Blessings,
Maggie Hoggard

[Anonymous]

I understand exactly where you’re coming from, Maggie. I’m nearly 67, and have a plethora of health issues. However, I don’t struggle with the “fine points” as much as I used to. Now, I’m just content to simply serve. To the extent I can, I work at the church, feeding at a homeless center, and, through Facebook, interceessory prayer for people who message me from all over the world. I also spend a great deal of time working on projects for my Order. That effort won’t benefit me much, but will help younger people and future generations move toward Christ-likeness through Benedictine life.

Serving God is not complicated, and I don’t need it to be.

This wouldn’t apply if I were much younger, and had ambitions toward a more complex ministry. It would require much more specialized training. I greatly admire those who take this path, but it’s not for me at my age.

[Margaret Hoggard]

I appreciate your response very much, Br. Monty. For now, the hardest issue for me is not being able to predict when a health issue will arise, whether for me or for someone close to me. This makes it difficult to follow any regular schedule that would require me to serve at a particular time and place. I do what I can, and I have hopes that at my age (64), I will still be able to do more. Out of necessity, however, I am learning to weigh potential commitments to judge if I can realistically fulfill them rather than risk letting others down. At this stage of my life, I am learning to be discerning, previously an area where I scored at the lower end on spiritual gifts assessments. There is a growing stillness in life now resulting from my present limitations that is allowing me to wait patiently to hear the word of the Lord. It has opened me to a level of peace and contentment that often escaped me when I was frantically rushing about before my retirement, even when I justified my busyness as doing the Lord’s work.

I am sure that your contributions make a great difference in the communities where you serve. We seldom know what seeds will take root in others and how they will then grow and flourish. What seems to be the simplest of actions may very well have the most profound effects.

I pray that you are enjoying a return to health.
God bless you,
Maggie

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