What I realized in the car today

I was thinking as I was driving to church today. I truly like my job. Is it perfect? No. Is this church where I will spend the rest of my life? Probably not. Are there issues out of my control at my church? Most definitely. Will I have battles to fight? I've already had a few and will mostly likely have more.

But rarely a day comes when I dread going to work. That dread often happens when the alarm clock goes off too early, but some of that is my fault for not going to bed earlier than I did. I would love to have some more guts to the sound of the organ as the congregation and choir combined can give me a darn good run for the money, but it's better to have that than me overpowering them no matter what I use.

I know God has a plan for me, but holy cow I am really stubborn some days. Really stubborn. This summer it seemed like this job thing just wasn't fully working out. Yes, I had a paid internship lined up, but nothing was totally certain yet. And then I had to take a review course. I grumbled and griped about a course I didn't need, blah blah blah. Did I ever think that God had me in there for a reason? No. But one day soon after the semester started my prof told me of a job opening for an organist/choirmaster. And yes, it's the job I now have.

When I asked my boss at the cathedral whether I should apply he said, "You'd be stupid not to apply for it." He has a way of being black and white, which I greatly appreciate. Less than a month later the church hired me, the fresh out of undergrad organist.

There are challenges, especially being a smaller congregation, so numbers aren't always high. But the talent is clearly visible both in the volunteers and the paid singers. Sure, they're not perfect, but neither am I. We can only offer our best to God, and that's all that is asked of us.

How fortunate to enjoy going to my job, even when I'm in the midst of a vacation and will be there on weekends when everyone else is off. I wouldn't trade that for anything.