More – Take Off Your Shoes

August 10, 2013 Marie Noelle Duquette Observations One comment

August 10, 2013

I can’t believe it’s been almost two months since I have taken off my shoes here. I feel a strong connection to you when I write. If my silence has disappointed you, I am so sorry. It’s safe to say I’ve been a bit overwhelmed since I first came to the Beach. If I could characterize my experience thus far, the refrain in my mind is More.

At The Beach, I am

walking more. A lot more. At odd times of day. And on nearly every walk I end up walking More than I ever planned.
with people more. A lot more. My days are longer than they’ve been in a decade, beginning before the sun is up and ending after it is absent from the sky.
learning more. I just attended a two-day conference with 15 folks from Advent entitled Willowcreek Global Leadership Summit. It was both inspiring and humbling how much there was to learn. I found myself thinking often, well this information would have been useful in life a lot sooner!
more tempted at every turn for new things to do with money; and fortunately I’m working too hard to entertain any seriously.
eating more fish.
feeling the gears in my brain shift in a way I’ve not enjoyed for some time. It is as if doors are opening to new creative possibilities, and they sort of creak as they open.
Missing the people I love in the Midwest even more than I thought I would.
Feeling my heart beat in my chest even upon waking because there is so much to do and see and experience — and it’s almost all new.
Showing signs of being in a long-term relationship with Monty Cat as I tend to talk sharply to him more than I use to…
Making more lists than I’ve ever made in my life; and checking them hourly to make sure I’m on track.

I am fond of the movie Happythankyoumore please. And I suppose that’s where I’m living right now. Happy in ways I had forgotten were options. Grateful to my God, and all the people who’ve loved me along before and are doing so now into the future.

Which leaves please. And silly though it sounds, it’s a constant refrain:

more please.

One comment

Pastor Dave says:

August 10, 2013 at 10:48 am

You bring more to this community too. So glad God led you here.

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Marie Noelle Duquette

I notice connections between people, events, movies, music, writings, the spoken word, that seem independent of one another. I write and speak about these connections because I have been created for this work and it has the potential to draw people together and transform rough places into plains of peace. I was a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for twenty years. I remain a writer whose muse is active and insistent; a lover of new experiences; a dreamer of old. I am fueled by both music and silence; I appreciate truths that can only be conveyed in whispers, if in any language at all. I have more friends than I deserve, a big fat french family I adore, a partner whose love inspires my days. We share a cozy condo with our dog Nala, and cat, Picasso. My most palpable experience of God's presence took place in a chapel in Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. In that place, where every great world religion was depicted by both name and symbol, a miracle took shape in 2005 that continues to inform my faith today. I believe the key to world peace is our willingness to understand one another and take the risks required to do that. My two sons are some of God's finest work; they are a blessing to me and to the world. I thank God for every single day of this wonder we know as life. And I thank you, for stopping by to take off your shoes and step into the shoes of those whose stories I am privileged to tell.