Thanks to the Women Who Have Formed Me

When I was on the Isle of Iona in Scotland during January, I visited the Nunnery.  The Nunnery is the ruin of an Augustinian nunnery built in the thirteenth century.  For several hundred years, women lived, worked, and worshipped here.  Their lives were similar to the men who lived in the abbey down the road.  They worshipped God together.  They prayed.  They grew and prepared food for themselves.  They took care of the sick and needy.  They offered hospitality to those in need.  They lived in community with each other.

Nunnery Church

But these women's names and stories are mostly forgotten.  The ruins have not ben restored, and it is said that this is one of the best preserved nunneries in the British Isles.  As I explore the island I used a book called Around a Thin Place, published by the Iona Community's publishing house, to help guide my reflection at significant points.  At the Nunnery it calls attention to women of faith, both this whose names history has remembered and forgotten.  

Me and the Nunnery

It also asked us to remember women whose lives have shaped us.  I started to list women whose faith and love have shaped me, and it is a long, long list.  It starts with my mom, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and cousins.  Sunday school teachers and other adults from church growing up.  Family friends.  Women I went to college with.  My teammates in China.  Friends God gave me during my seminary years.  Mentors and colleagues in ministry.  

My mom and I at my ordination.  I love this picture!

I wouldn't be who I am without them.  God has used them to shape me.  To give me examples of loving Christ and serving the church.  To encourage the gifts they saw in me.  To challenge me and console me.  Today is my birthday, and as I reflect on my life I thank God for all of these women and the impact they have had on me.  And as I look to the future, I pray that I will have such an impact on those around me now and those who will look to me in the future.

"I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also" (2 Timothy 1:5). 

P.S. Many men have shaped me too, and I am thankful for them too.