Chicken Soup

I have been fighting a sinus infection for days. Although I am on antibiotics and codeine laced cough syrup, I hardly feel any better. I had to walk out of a Sunday school lecture this morning because I was coughing uncontrollably. Soup or warm tea seem to have greatest affect.

What is it in chicken soup that makes us feel better? (A question for the ages!)

Only slightly related: I feel another kind of sick. It may be difficult to describe, understand, or respond to... but I have had this sinking feeling for the past semester or so. This feeling is attached to my relationship with my cohorts (students at the seminary) and especially within my entering class. Over the past year, as we have taken more electives and less of the core curriculum classes--we have seen less of each other. We seem to be a less cohesive group. We are following our individual calls more (as it should be) and preparing to leave the seminary for parts unknown. There is anxiety entering into this secluded seminary environment... who will find a call, who won't, who will keep in touch, who will abandon the ministry, who will burn out, who will bloom, who will be spirit led and spirit fed?

I don't know. I hope that the coming chapters of our lives will be as interesting as these recent ones. I hope to retain those bonds we have formed over the past two years, nurture them, and help them to continue to grow. But, what about this growing anxiety about the uncertainty of the future? My plan: I know that I can't do much, but I can be more intentional in my prayer life. And so, my plan is to start praying for my classmates on a more regular basis. By name. Everyday. I hope that this new structure to my daily life will help to put some things back into their proper perspective. This is a practice I picked up as a chaplain this summer. (Once you have a good practice, you really shouldn't give it up.)