The Great Debate

Though my heart still breaks into a million pieces when I think about leaving camp, my world is all of sudden wide open to pursue things that were, just last week, on the back burner.  Opportunities I've wrestled with for well over a year are now actually possibilities.  The problem is that I have to sort through them, filter them through the vision of my life.  Where can I be more effective?  Where can I explore my passions, use my gifts and talents, and best bring glory to God?

So here's what's out there looming.  First we have the Patapsco Valley Republican Club, a great way to get involved politically, as well as with my immediate community.  Second we have the Oak Crest Community Association, a place I've been involved as much as I could be the past year, but frustrated by the lack of response I get from the leadership.  In both, I have the unique opportunity to be part of the governing boards, but which should I choose?

Just so you know, my current bias is towards the PVRC, mainly because my efforts with the Oak Crest association seem futile and seem to be waste of my time.  A little background, but not much, I don't have all night.  For the past year, I've committed to design and layout the community newsletter, as well as chair the Summer Picnic committee.  Due to a lack of communication with the association president, I've been unable to perform either tasks.  The last newsletter we put out was last January or February.  I worked on one for the Spring but was unable to complete it despite several attempts to finalize.  And the picnic, well that's just a whole other story. Let's just say that I don't have high hopes of that one happening, at least not this year.  I plan on sitting down with the association president this week to talk through some of these issues that I've been having, and see where I feel comfortable going from here.  The whole point of being involved in the association was to meet people in our community and be able to positively impact it.  In my current capacity of service, I just don't see how I'm accomplishing either.

Actually I've been thinking today that maybe I don't need to be as involved with Oak Crest.  More that Moms certainly provides me with more than enough connections in our surrounding area, and it's certainly open for me invite moms from my neighboring blocks.  And the PVRC gives me the opportunity to impact my community through the political spectrum, changing it from the inside out, which kind of sounds better to me then being spoon fed excuses every 6 months as to why we can't have sidewalks on Edmonson Ave.

The bigger picture is that this is where we live, and soon to be where we worship.  This is our community, and I want to be involved as much as I can, to spark connections, to leave an imprint, to facilitate change.  The great debate is where!  I obviously know where I'm leaning, but am continuing to pray for God to make it clear.  Is there a way to do all of it?  Could I maybe be a Street Rep in Oak Crest while remaining active with PVRC?  Of course, More than Moms is not part of the debate, it's just part of the consideration.  Does it meet a need that makes one of the options obsolete?  I don't have the answer, but I'm willing to ask the questions.