Prayer and Synchronicity

Anne Lamott, in her book Travelling Mercies said something like "I travel along the path that God has for me, stumbling, and lerching"..... I thought it was funny, but also felt it was very true for my life, and I could visualize this careening from one ditch to the other, sometimes falling down, sometimes saved at the last minute from a crash, but always, no matter what, getting back up again and continuing on.  And I can see Jesus lending me a hand when I am in the ditch, or trying to lead me or walk beside me, then sometimes I go careening off again into the ditch, and he comes to get me and the whole process starts over.

Today I read some thoughts about synchronicity and grace, about prayers answered and unanswered, so I thought I would write a bit about those topics.

Have you ever had something happen during your day that felt like God was pointing you in a particular direction?  We might call it coincidence, serendipity, synchronicity.  We get a phone call just when we are feeling down, or someone says something to us that makes sense in some other part of our lives...  Lately, this has happened for me...  I was trying to decide if I should apply for a job as an adjunct college professor at Marywood University.  I have thought about this before, but lately I have been urged on by a few of my friends who know my background and know that Marywood is in need of more people willing to teach one or two classes in religion.  As I was contemplating this, I had an opportunity to teach a class for my friend Bernadette.  The class went well, and I realized that yes, in fact, I probably could teach at Marywood.  This would mean that my long time goal of having paid, meaningful work would become a reality! I could have a job and when people asked me what I did I could say without embarrassment that I had a job teaching at Marywood.  I thought about my volunteer work at John F. Kennedy elementary school and I knew that I couldn't do both Marywood and JFK.  The classes at Marywood would take too much time and effort and the hours required for being in class conflicted.

Then a few things happened in succession;the lecture that I covered for Bernadette the day I substituted for her was about our wants vs. needs and downward mobility. We are also  participating in a new program called Just Faith which looks at social justice issues and our Catholic faith; within  the context of this class a couple of ideas came up.  We watched a video that Diane Sawyer produced on Camden, NJ where many people are in third world poverty; the show followed three children through their school year.  When the principal of the school was asked what people could do to help, he said "volunteer to be in a classroom".  Then we had a speaker come from Catholic Social Services talk to us about local poverty, he gave a statistic that 30% of all the children in Scranton Public Schools are below the poverty level, and when I asked Angie, the teacher that I volunteer for about her class, she told me that 22 of 24 kids in her class get a subsidized lunch.

I saw the volunteering with the the fifth grade in a completely different light, perhaps I finally saw it through the eyes of God.  I realized how important my volunteering at the school was, if all I could do was show up and get to know their names they might see that someone else thought they were worthwhile, someone else not even paid to be there wanted to spend time with them in their classroom. I could support them and encourage them.  I realized this would be infinitely more important than teaching young adults who had the resources to go to a university about theological concepts; even though I know that work to be important too.  I want to be with the least powerful....I want to help them.  At least that is where I feel God calls me today.