When I left my job in marketing and advertising for the parish office, I might have had a secret plan to bring some glamour to the three-bedroom house that then served as headquarters for the parish staff of three.
Now, eight years, three kids, and four additional employees later, I can laugh at who I was and what I thought then.
I’ve always been guilty of a secret desire to change the world. The problem is I always think the “world” begins outside the walls of my house.
Changing the world, I’m reminded at least 50 times a day, starts at home.
One of the ways I’ve changed in the last eight years is with the little people who end up coming along with me. For two years, I continued to work full-time, baby and then toddler in tow.
After my second child was born, I took her to the office, too. (Our priest and my colleagues are AWESOME, in case you wondered.)
I have since transitioned to working from home, but not without seeing the village of our parish in action. There were the baby-loving women I worked with, volunteers and staff, and the wise, kid-loving men, including my boss, the pastor. There was the experience of terrible monster-like children at Mass and having people mention that they prayed for me. There continues to be the support and encouragement that comes from what my village, my parish, my family.
Each of us is impacted by many others. We may be sowing seeds or we may, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, be watering seeds sown many years before.
Looking for a way to spread the New Evangelization? Look around, grab the hand of the person beside you, and be Christ. Words, I’ve found, aren’t usually necessary.
Copyright © 2012, Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard continues to be shocked and delighted that her life as a grown-up involve horses, writing, and sparkly dress shoes. In her work in the New Evangelization as a Catholic wife, mom, writer, parish employee, and catechist, she’s learned a lot of lessons, had a lot of laughs, and consumed mass amounts of coffee. She’s online at SnoringScholar.com and CatholicMom.com, and is the author of a number of books.
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