Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet,

for the place where you stand is holy ground.

Exodus 3: 5

In a few hours - 3 1/2 to be exact - I will board a plane from Dayton to Newark... and then after a 4 hour layover another flight from Newark to Rome. To say that I am excited this morning is an understatement!

I wasn't planning on blogging this morning, but I was so struck by the appropriateness of today's first reading from Exodus that I thought I'd share some thoughts before leaving town...

I was struck this morning by something I never noticed before in the story of Moses' call. Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" What's interesting is that God doesn't start listing off qualities that make Moses qualified... God doesn't say, "But Moses, you're perfect for this and this is why..." Instead God simply says, "I will be with you." And then God lets Moses know how he'll be able to tell this is true. "I will be with you." A simple statement... about God... not about Moses, necessarily.

I'm not sure about anyone else who reads this blog, but I can sometimes get so caught up on exactly why I can't do something. Who am I to attend a leadership workshop? Who am I to help facilitate the meetings in Rome? Who am I to... And the list goes on! Today I received a simple reminder... It's not about me! Funny how I get those reminders every once in a while. God is present. God is faithful. That's all.

And so, with the reminder that God will be with me, I leave for adventures in Rome (and France). Perhaps I should remove the impediments to recognizing the holy ground on which I stand - my "sandals" if you will.

Many blessings!

Sr. N