Looking back

It's extraordinary to realise that today is the last day of 2008.
It is just possible (though I realise it's highly unlikely) that this might have been the year in which I notionally grew up. (Of course I remain fundamentally twelve).
I managed to detach myself, not without tears or backward glances, from the dear people of my training parish and have even managed to stand more or less on my own clerical feet for 8 months without WonderfulVicar immediately to hand.
I, who have always been scared of flying, flew to the US on my own and negotiated a change of planes to boot. The opportunity to spend time with a wonderful collection of RevGals at BigEvent the first was well worth this and any number of other trials too (and not just because I managed to be away from home on house moving day).
Back home, I hit the ground running as I began to discover what it's really like to be vicar of two parishes of my own....and that has been the major theme of the year from then on.
I guess it will be the major theme pretty much always, actually...though it will sound in different keys from year to year, I'm sure.
On the whole, though, looking back at 2008 is pretty much an exercise in counting of blessings. I am so aware that for some the year has been anything but blessed - and I'm praying that 2009 will be kinder all round.