by Dan Masterton
Recently, I was helping with a program for Catholic teens, one that largely focuses on helping them consider God's ongoing invitations for them in their lives.
During a period of prayer with Adoration, I started to think about my ministries -- 7 years in Catholic high school campus ministry at different schools with different students and in different roles, and now 3+ years in pastoral support and communications for a religious congregation. The contrasts rose prominently, between the fast pace and high-buy-in-high-reward work in the schools and the intentionally slower-paced, less person-facing work I do now to balance being a stay-at-home parent.
Generally, I imagined going back to full-time work whenever our youngest child reached kindergarten, which if we are able to have another kiddo would still be several years away yet. And so I thought about being a stay-at-home dad, from (just tossing a number out in my mind) age 28 to age 41, for over thirteen years. While it comes with very little regret, and with zero desire to go back in time and change any fundamentals, it can come with some imaginative wondering -- about what could've gone differently, what other paths might have been there, and also, without any changes, what paths lie ahead, not just in parenthood and family life but in a more robust return to work.
This sort of vocational imagining, that entertains various scenarios as one looks forward, is the kind of immersive vividity I think we could use as we pray and reflect on decisions to make for the future. This is what the middle of this story lands upon, as Noah continues to see in technicolor some of the gifts and passions God has already placed in his heart and now projects and magnifies for him to marinade upon.
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