what do you do all day?

As I sat at a traffic light this morning, I looked across the road at the corn field, admired the neat rows of growing plants and hummed that famous line from “Oklahoma!:”  “The corn is as high as a elephant’s eye.”

It was a long wait at the light, and so I got to musing.  Musing about corn, farms, farmers and work.

What do farmers do all day?

There are several farms in our neighborhood that grow corn, soybeans, and wheat.  I see the farmers out on their equipment in the fields, but I got to wondering what, exactly, they are up to when it’s mid-summer and the crops all seem to be doing what crops do-  growing towards maturity and harvest .

I know that a farmer’s life is full of hard work.  I am not suggesting that while the corn is busy dividing cells and stretching towards the sky that the farmer is lying with a bowl of popcorn on a chaise lounge watching Oprah reruns.  But I couldn’t help but muse, what exactly, are they up to?

I turned to the internet.  (I probably should have turned to an actual farmer, but, for reasons that will become obvious in a few paragraphs, the internet was more convenient.)

I found the blog of a farmer named Brian from Indiana.  It is called, appropriately, “The Farmer’s Life.”  Here’s a link: thefarmerslife.com     Brian seems to enjoy writing for all sorts of audiences, including people like me who are curious about farming but have little understanding of it.  One of his blog entries that I especially appreciated was titled “Planting is Over: Now What do Farmers Do?”    http://thefarmerslife.com/planting-is-over-now-what-to-farmers-do/ 

  You can read the entry on your own, but here’s the long and the short of it, in his words-

Farmers spend their time:

Planting

Feeding Crops

Managing Weeds

Mowing Roadsides

Hauling Grain from the Previous Season

Maintaining Equipment 

and in

Family time and Fun

It was helpful to read Brian’s description of each of these tasks and to hear about the importance of keeping pace with the demanding work of farming.  I was especially sensitive to the idea of “making hay while the sun shines” and how the farming life is utterly dependent on things over which they have no control:  rain, sunshine, temperature.

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My husband is a pharmaceutical underwriter for a major insurance company.  Saying that makes me sound like I have an idea of what that actually means.  And, in all honesty, my understanding of the job’s intricacies is... vague. Now, while I’m not well versed in all of the details of my husband’s job, I do know some of the components and functions of the job:  mathematical computation, mathematical analysis, and conferring with colleagues about negotiations between vendors and the insurance company. The currency of the job itself includes spreadsheets, conference calls, painstaking and time consuming computation, report and proposal production, conference calls, and emails.    Because he works from home, there is also a fair amount of walking up and down the stairs to get more coffee or seltzer, switching the laundry, assisting the cat in her desire to go out or come in or go out again, and some periodic visits to the refrigerator.   It’s embarrassing to write this paragraph seeing as my husband has spent his entire adult life working in this industry and I can’t even construct a meaningful paragraph about what he does.

But that’s the point.

 And don’t you wonder: Who knows what you actually do? The details, I mean.

                                *********************

To wit, what follows is a short exposé on what I actually do.  Because, if you are reading this, you probably have some investment in that- as an Episcopalian in Central Pennsylvania, as a friend or neighbor, or as my husband, who sees me head out each morning in my purple shirt and black suit with my briefcase, camouflage lunch box and jug of water.

If you don’t care, then that’s cool.  I’d recommend that you stop here, but  I’d also encourage you to check out Brian’s blog on farming, because it’s pretty great.

 Bishoping- First Things:

If I’ve learned anything in the last 2 years, it is that no bishop does his or her job in the same way as another bishop.  It is a job that is highly personal, left to the “self-starting” instincts of the individual, and varies widely with the strengths, personality and stamina of the individual and the gifts, needs and personality of the diocese in which they serve. The particular tasks of a bishop also shift, I think, over time.  My focus these days is really “internal;” working with our laity and clergy to form systems and structures to best serve God’s mission in our diocese and to build a sense of identity and cohesion.  In future years, I expect to be reaching out more into the civic and interfaith arenas.

 Being a bishop is not like making widgets.  It is never “done,” its success is hard to measure, and it includes a lot of time that might (for the A types in the room) look unproductive:  musing, praying, waiting, listening, looking, praying, sitting, praying.

Rather than try to outline my job, here’s a sample of what I am on about during the course of an average week in terms of activities:

·      Praying

·      Writing

·      Driving

       Studying

            Responding to Emails about...

o   Convention planning

o   Sunday visitations

o   Clergy matters- personal and parish related

o   Legal matters

o   Liturgy matters

o   Transition letters of agreement

o   Financial issues of parish and diocese

o   Clergy disciplinary matters

o   Staff management and portfolios

o   Diocesan history

o   Staff development

o   Parish construction grant requests

o   Those in discernment

o   Organizational management

o   Refugee support

o   Reference checks

o   The Episcopal Home

o   Mission project in the north (all items above taken as a sample from my current inbox)

·     I also spend time... 

        Meeting with staff to assist, collaborate, learn about their           work/participate in supervision

·      Meeting with various committees- Standing Committee, Commission on Ministry, Finance Committee, etc.

·      Meeting with people discerning a call to ordination/seminary/lay ministry

·      Keeping up with correspondence/meetings/calls with seminarians

·      Meeting with new clergy/established clergy/deacons/clergy council

·      Participating in a youth/parish/special interest group events

·      Corresponding with parishes/clergy/laypeople in snail mail (yes, we still do that)

·      Talking with other bishops about clergy interested in coming here or going there

·      Attending board meetings of the Episcopal Home, Episcopal Square, Widow’s Corp

·      Attending retirement/birthday/etc. celebrations and liturgies and ceremonies

·      Meeting with professionals from outside the church representing social causes

·      Gathering with ecumenical bishops for study, prayer and conversation

·      Meeting with my spiritual director

·      Offering pastoral care of clergy- phone calls, visits

·      Writing sermons and this blog

(this list is derived from a calendar sample of my last few weeks.)

I don’t offer this as a way to underscore how busy I am (it’s a busy job and I love it that way)  but to unveil some of the mystery behind the purple shirt and the black Subaru.

I love what I do.  I love helping to guide and steer and shape a body of people who love God and want to praise God and serve God as they are best able.  I want us to be joyful in the work and joyful in each other.

I wonder if it would be fun to choose someone whom you know and spend some time asking them about what they do?  Many of us take pride in our work and love our vocations; sharing the details is a privilege when someone invites us to open up and tell about how we spend our minutes, our hours, our days.  Invite someone to share with you and listen carefully.  Perhaps someone will ask you to share in return, and it will be a learning for you both.

Now that I’ve got corn and fertilizer and weed control in my ken at the 101 level, I might need to move onto unpacking pharmaceutical underwriting, next.

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