Flourishing Life

I honestly intended to write before now, but the last two days rocked my world in a couple of ways:

1. We're taking the class that teaches us how to develop our dissertation. The class, taught by Dr. Verna Lowe, meets 9 to 5 every day (yesterday we met for orientation at 8 a.m. prior to class). Now, 9 to 5 isn't that big a deal, except it does get tiring sitting in the same chair for that length of time. The big deal is the homework. Tonight I got back to the townhouse at 11 p.m. after several hours of writing in the library. Last night, same story. So, needless to say, long days.
2. The content of the class is awesome. We've known about, since before the program began last year, the dissertation requirement. I even knew what project I wanted to pursue: equipping people for ministry using the Gallup StrengthsFinder tool. However, none of us had any idea of how to go about doing the project, research, and writing itself. So the last two days enlightened and encouraged us to really get moving!

Dr. Lowe does a great job walking us through the process and makes it entertaining as well! The second part of this equation is no easy task!

Soooo, hours and hours of writing. By the end of the class the first chapter of our dissertations will be written (at least the first draft). So, I'm happy, and really looking forward to working on my proposal so I can begin to work on the project at Christ Church. Even though I've taught a session of the Strengths Class this spring, I need to completely rewrite it… completely. So, there's still work to do!

The amazing potential of a strengths-based approach to ministry reveals itself through the happiness quotient. I'm not talking about happiness in the sense of a fleeting emotion. I mean true, lasting, life satisfaction and fulfillment. When you engage your strengths on a regular basis, you increase your chances of experiencing happiness. Of course, because God created us in his image, and part of this image is the desire to reach out in love to bless others. So, one of the keys to happiness, certainly not the only key, is service.

Well, sleep beckons! I will write more on this another time. God bless!