The Joy of a Great Harvest

Written by Shawn Mai, ACPE Board Chair

June is the month in western Kansas when the hard red winter wheat is ripe and ready to be harvested.  For the grains to get to the point of harvest, they endure quite a journey of development.  The wheat is planted in the fall.  Once it is in the ground, it depends on the forces of mother nature to cooperate.  Some precipitation in the fall sets the process in motion.  Snow over the winter is a source of moisture and strengthens the holding environment of the soil as it freezes.  In the spring, the soil temperature speeds up the germination process, young blades of the plant emerge, and a beautiful expanse of green is created.  That beautiful green expanse captures the sun's heat, grows the grain's stalk and head, and matures toward a harvest of grain.   The process depends on patience and tending.  The process also depends on a certain capacity to tolerate that which is out of one’s control.  Drought, too much rain, not enough snow, wind, and hail can have disastrous effects on the outcome of harvest.  Then there are those years when the price given for the grain doesn’t come close to what it costs to grow it.

Growing up, I marveled at my grandpa’s ability to hold the process of farming.  After ten years of summer work on the farm, I knew I did not have the stomach to live through all the unknowns.  I had felt a love for the land and the work, I did not have the temperament to make a career of it

ACPE just completed its annual conference in New Orleans.  The event felt like the joy of a great harvest.  The staff and curriculum committee of the ACPE Board did an outstanding job of creating a holding environment for ACPE to reconnect, reflect, and find renewal.  

Two events seemed to stand out as important pieces of work in this season of ACPE.  The listening session on Monday and a Tree of Life exercise on Wednesday provided space and time for members to share grief, gratitude, and hopes for the organization.  Both processes affirmed the work of the strategic planning process we’ve been involved with over the last year.  It felt like a successful June harvest of months of prayerful intentionality, creativity, and collective wisdom.

Before the conference, the certification commission hosted a pre-conference gathering for Certified Educator Candidates.  60 of 126 CECs currently in the process were present for the event.  The energy and excitement that will fuel our future were powerful.

There is much to be optimistic about in ACPE.  Phase three of the strategic planning process has begun as the ACPE Board has gotten clarity about working groups to work on “our connective tissue” (Tammerie Day, ACPE Board member), continued integration of our psychotherapists and the psychotherapy programs (this is an ongoing work group that began at the beginning of the year), communications and marketing, staffing, and priorities for funding.

Additionally, the Executive Director Search Committee is integrating ongoing information and feedback from the conference as it moves into a phase of receiving applications and resumes of candidates for the position.  Please be aware of candidates in ACPE or outside the organization who might be a good fit and have a passion for the work of our organization.  People with experience leading a non-profit with close to 2000 members, a budget of 3 + million dollars, a national staff of 12, and a mission to bring healing to a hurting world through spiritual care and education and a heart for the work should consider this position.  Apply through Emory University Human Resources.  Vicky Jones is our Emory HR executive recruiter.  

During the Monday listening sessions at the conference, facilitators formed three circles to capture what has been lost over the last years in ACPE, what has been gained, and what the hopes are for the future.  Cecelia Walker and I captured what has been gained through changes in the organization: “Outcomes that deepen my work with students,” “The resource and wisdom of the psychotherapists,” “Feeling included,” “There is space for me,” “the certification process worked for me,” “a more engaging accreditation process.”  The most powerful theme related to inclusion.

I included a Howard Thurman poem in the Wednesday night banquet address that has been echoing through my mind during this chapter of ACPE’s history.   We all are different people than we were three, five, ten years ago.  It is a fertile time.

 

I will sing a new song 

by Howard Thurman

The old song of my spirit has wearied itself out.
It has long ago been learned by my heart;
It repeats itself over and over,

bringing no added joy to my days or lift to my spirit.

I will sing a new song.

I must learn the new song for the new needs.
I must fashion new words born of all the new growth
of my life – of my mind – of my spirit.
I must prepare for new melodies that have never been mine before,
that all that is within me may lift my voice unto God.
Therefore, I shall rejoice with each new day
and delight my spirit in each fresh unfolding.

I will sing, this day, a new song unto the Lord.

Thurman doesn’t say we forget the old song.  He reminds us of the propensity we may have to sing it in the same way over and over.   Like the red wing black bird’s song that pierces through the late winter and early spring quiet…we are in a new season.

During a wheat harvest, you must pay close attention to when the wheat is ready to cut.  Every day you don’t get in the field, you risk the weather, you risk losing how many bushels you can get an acre, and you risk losing the health of the grain.  I remember my grandpa walking into the field, looking around, taking apart several heads of grain, pausing there for what felt like a long time, and then walking out of the field and saying, “let's go!” meant get to work—the art of farming.  

Thank you for being on the crew.   “Let’s go!”