Defining routines

For as long as I can remember, I have always had a rigorous schedule. In fact, for the last year or so, my routine was such that if I had an hour-and-a-half free with nothing to do, I wasn’t always sure what I would with it.

While my life was extremely full and I wasn’t discontent with it, in those moments I would be reminded of the slogan “get a life.” And thus began my quest to explore what I liked to do beyond work at The River Reporter, a weekly community newspaper that has provided the basis of my existence, with daily and weekly routines for the past 28 years.

So here I am, enrolled in a graduate theological school, miles away from my beloved Upper Delaware River valley, beginning the process of figuring out what exactly that slogan means in terms of spiritual understanding and the less tangible, but perhaps most relevant, aspects of our daily living.

My schedule is fairly open. I have five classes, and they basically meet for three hours a week. I have no classes on Mondays or Tuesday mornings, which works well with the copyediting duties that I am maintaining at the paper.

Today, for instance, I do not have a class until 7:10 p.m. At that time, I will cross the street from my dorm, and attend my first “Introduction to Islam” class, taught by Yassir Chadly. I added it to my schedule for two reasons.

First, I think it’s especially important at this time of religious divisiveness to have some kind of understanding of the spiritual underpinnings practiced by Muslims. I had been mortally frightened on the flight here because there were Muslims sitting in my particular airplane row. Aware of their every move and every time that they used the bathroom, I was shocked by my fear and my misinterpretation of their actions. In that moment, I received first-hand experience about the need to understand that not all Muslims are terrorists, in the same way that not all Christians are imperialistic fundamentalists.

Second, the instructor and his manner of approaching teaching and communication when he gave an overview of the course during orientation charmed me. A quick Internet search, in this moment, reveals that he is an Islamic imam from Morocco and a musician well versed in Sufi sacred music. Perhaps that explains his command of the room and the material. You can experience this charm yourself by going to http://www.remarkablecurrent.com/yassir.html and clicking on his interview.

But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I don’t have a fair amount to accomplish before next Tuesday afternoon. With this evening’s classes being my fourth class of the week, I have 200 pages to read in the course required all incoming Starr King students on “Educating to Counter Oppression and Build Sustainable Communities.” Following the reading, I am to write a not-more-than-three-page single-spaced reflection on what I want to get out of the course. Another requirement is to participate in the online creation of a covenant by which the three-hour weekly class discussion will be moderated.

For my “Dance of the Women’s Spirit” class, I have numerous readings and journaling to do as we explore the Biblical figure of wisdom, and its relation to dance as a spiritual practice. I have been reading biblical passages that make reference to wisdom, which, for this Unitarian-Universalist, is a first-time experience.

My “Bibliodrama and Liturgical Studies” class simply requires me to read the gospel story Luke 13:10-17 on a daily basis at the same time each day, as a way of preparing for thorough examination through pluralistic and communal interpretive play beginning next Tuesday.

I am in the process of reading the novel “Gilead,” which is one of the required readings for my “Teacher as Prophet” course tomorrow morning.

And so the routines of this new life begin to reveal themselves and I make conscious choices in their creation.

Setting my alarm for 6:30 a.m. I am rising earlier than my habit at home. My cup of coffee in bed, so lovingly provided by my husband, Stephen, for the past eight years, is accomplished by setting up my one-cup coffee maker, complete with cream and sugar the night before. In the morning, I sit up and press the “on” button.

So whether it is the preparation of my morning coffee, coming up with a system of looking up every word that I don’t know, always seeking out additional information, or simply being in the present moment, I am applying myself to “getting a life.”

And I am realizing that it matters less where we are or what we are doing, but more on whether we apply ourselves with intention, without distraction or judgment.