April 4, 2005
Decisions
Continuing to meander around in my anecdotage these days, I’m thinking about decisions. The capacity to make them, if not with ease, at least with some judgment, is sometimes, I think, a measure of one’s spiritual maturity.
I had already been accepted at one of our church’s major seminaries when our coadjutor informed me we were starting up a new one, that he would like me to be a part of the founding class, and that I could take a couple of weeks to decide. The whirlwind of deciding to attend seminary at all with hopes to get ordained someday was sufficient trauma to add to a brand new baby daughter, a very reluctant wife, and leaving an adequate home that had a manageable mortgage.
Two weeks of anguished prayer passed. On a Saturday morning, I went in to see the coadjutor and said, Yes, I’d stay in Austin and join up. When I got home, a letter in the mail from the diocesan read “Dear Lane: We’re starting a new seminary in Austin, and that’s where you’re going.”
Spiritual maturity sometimes has to start over.