A Word of Thanks
Shawn Mai shared the following beautiful poem as the opening reflection for the ACPE Board of Director’s meeting last week:
“The Way It Is”
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
Shawn then invited members to share a word or phrase that came to mind as they thought about their thread, the one they follow. Board members shared the following: Service. Transformative relationships. Courage. Community. Becoming. Unfolding. Reflection. Excitement. Growth. Renewal. Flow. Shawn concluded with Stafford’s final line: “Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread.”
As I reflect on my eighth anniversary with ACPE, I listened to this reflection with a deep and abiding sense of gratitude for who you are as individuals and as a community; for the ways you have taught thousands of students to provide the kind of spiritual care that transforms lives; for the ways you engage one another, often with great intensity, because of your profound commitment and understanding that this work matters, that the world desperately needs what you teach, what you practice, what you live.
As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, I hope that each of us can take a moment to pause and offer gratitude for this remarkable association called ACPE. May we offer gratitude for the founders who took the ideas of Anton Boisen and honed them into a vision of guild of committed professionals. May we offer gratitude for the almost 500 volunteers it takes annually to do this work, to keep it at the level of excellence the world and our partners have come to expect, even as we strive to improve it. May we offer gratitude for those with whom we agree about our shared future and those with whom we disagree, for it is in the ongoing engagement that ACPE will continue to unfold in its potential. May we pause and offer gratitude for psychotherapists, counselors, educators, and practitioners, especially in this season of such grief, exhaustion, and deep division.
The coming months will be filled with important decisions: for members, for the board, and for our partners. Some decisions will feel huge, some may seem incidental. Some we will make with a sense that we are clear about the full picture, while others may ask us to trust elected leaders as they seek to best serve ACPE. If history is any kind of teacher, we should expect that some of the debates will be intense, and we will not necessarily all agree on the future of ACPE. That said, may we engage in these coming months with a sense of gratitude for this work, for its history, for its potential, for its promise, for its students, for its institutions, and for its members. For these and all that makes ACPE what it is, let us give thanks.
Trace Haythorn is the Executive Director of ACPE and can be reached at Trace.Haythorn@acpe.edu