“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”—George Eliot

More than a decade ago, a colleague gave me a fancy bookmark with this quotation. I was struggling with my then-vocation, wondering if I had the stamina to stick it out until retiring, hoping I had enough creativity to remain a dedicated teacher as passion for the work waned. I came eventually to the decision that it was not too late for a second career, and here I am with you!

That was a big struggle, and a big expectation for a little quotation. Since then, I see these words in a different light. On any given day, any day, every day, I can be what I might not have been yesterday. I can  give myself the care and attention my body needed yesterday TODAY. Today, any day, every day, I can be the kinder person, the more connected correspondent, the gentler listener, the clearer speaker of truth, than I had been yesterday or the day or the week or the year before. Today, any day, every day, I can love more deeply, risking exposure or ridicule. I need no further career change to make possible what I have neglected or ignored, what I long to bring into being.

It is never too late for any of us to start again, to embrace the possibility of change, change large and small. I pray that you know in your own life what is in your grasp, what it is never too late for you to do and be, as you remember, today and every day, that you are loved, your are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so for you RIGHT NOW!

Blessings, Rev. Rita