To Everything There is a Season and a Purpose under Heaven

spring wave....
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/agneseeva/
"I am only one, but still I am one;
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
~ Helen Keller

I stopped here and paused for a little over an hour, savoring a phone call with a woman I love. This quote, interestingly enough, came around in the latter part of our conversation in relation to a teaching from the Torah that she's integrating into her life -- to recognize her contribution, the gift that she is, in each community that she is a part of. That she would talk about this, having not yet shared the quote with her, is quite holographic: this sense of purpose that we each are uncovering about ourselves was a central part of our individual experiences that we shared with one another today.

The quote was hand-written on a card I received in the mail today from my MSW students at the campus where I teach over the summer. They were congratulating me on the National Social Work Honoree nomination. I read these words today several times, grateful tears streaming down my face, my heart being stroked from the inside-out.

A season and a purpose under Heaven. This is where I have arrived at the closing of an intriguing school semester, especially after negotiating some of the politics of the department and having the department chair critique my "group process" teaching style in order to appease those faculty who only lecture. In the end, it has been the students themselves whose collective voice has rung the truest. I feel humbled and validated in how I am received by them.

And, I am not under any illusion or delusion that this will always be. Impermanence is a fact of life. And it is no longer one to be feared but rather one to relish and delight in.

My season is right now. God's purpose for me has never been more clearly revealed than in this moment.