[TEAMspinella] Letter halfway between Thanksgiving and Christmas

So what's it been like this year for Laura and Steve?! (Link to pictures at the bottom :-)

Just as our blissful and seemingly busy years before children gave way to the longing for children we didn't yet have, so the years (or were they days?) of empty nesting have given way to the satisfaction of engaging grandchildren as often as possible. In our case, that's pretty often, and for that we are most grateful.

We were home for Thanksgiving and will be home for Christmas. In fact, I expect to spend the entire year without leaving the US. That may seem normal to you, but it has not been common for me, so I am learning new ways.

While people talk about God loving us like a good parent, they could continue by highlighting the unconditional love I see on the part of so many grandparents, sometimes with a satisfied glow and sometimes with a heartfelt longing. This has been a year to understand that more personally. (We do love our adult kids too, but they're so busy ;-)

On the other hand, we're also growing old, and we notice more aches, pains, and losses. Keep this in mind when you hear us or one of our peers bemoaning the decline in the world as we know it. After all, we are perceiving the world from our own decline, whether that means exhaustion or perhaps, as I have noted earlier this year, irrelevance.

And yes, we are grateful for what relevance and energy we still have. If it weren't for our excellent imaginations and (sometimes fading) memories, we might be totally content! Contentment is a good gift and we are thankful for what measure of it we enjoy.

The suffering this year has seemed nearer at hand. To pick out a few--my sister's brain cancer, desperate migrants hoping for rest from their suffering, horrible wars offering little hope of resolution, and broken systems that may never be fixed.

Yet here we are, passing through another year and marking the approach of winter by renewing our hopes, anchoring our faith, savoring what we can savor, and grieving what we must suffer. May you find a peace that is otherworldly in the midst of whatever you are facing and companions to walk alongside with grace and forbearance. 

And thank you for connecting with us. Along the way I grow more aware I will never find the perfect friends and family, but I can take another step to enjoy the people that are alongside me. You wouldn't be reading this if you weren't one of this company we so enjoy. We are grateful for you. 

I heard a prayer once that began by orienting the supplicant first vertically--on earth, subject and reliant to a greater power, and hoping for good outcomes in a world that seems out of control. You may have heard the same prayer. It continues by focusing on the immediate--having what we need for today and getting along with those around us. Then there are our two problems with evil--the stuff we do that's not in our own best interest and the evil that comes at us from seemingly every side. The prayer ends more quickly than we might expect, but right back where it started--the world is not about us, even though that's the way we experience it.

Peace and great joy be yours! That is our wish for you. With love, Steve and Laura

Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/f1rkiB6v1RdGHtnB8 Pictures of our year 2023

Steve and Laura Spinella

US: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920

mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
<stevespinella@gmail.com> <

lauraspinella@gmail.com>

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[TEAMspinella] Life in the twilight zone

Did you miss me? It's been three months since I last wrote an email update--a cheeky piece about my irrelevance. The most reassuring response was from my daughter, who said I was still relevant to her. Yeah! (She's relevant to me, too ;-)

I thought it might be good to write a more traditional email, where I update you in more detail about what my (irrelevant?!) life actually includes these days.

First, as I mentioned in July, my wife is younger and more relevant. She continues to engage with international women here in Colorado Springs through an informal organization they call "International Women's Connection." They have various reasons for getting together, including larger monthly meetings with a theme at a friendly local church as well as walks, teas, hikes, Bible and book meetups, and so forth. Her primary coworker recently broke her elbow biking--right before Laura passed the same spot on a separate bike ride. From my perspective, there's a lot of love and meaningful relationship happening among a unique community of people with international connections and backgrounds.

She also does a lot to care for our local grandchildren, looks for every opportunity to see our more distant grandson (still only 100 minutes away,) and is always looking out for her mom, who lives around the corner in the same house with our local grandchildren.

My regularly scheduled ministry opportunities include a small group that has met for more than 12 years and a men's group that has met for some 18 years (I've only been around it for about 12.) Among other things, eating is involved.... Both of these are sourced in and connected to our local church, which we first attended in fall 1991 and have been associated with ever since. I am also on a teaching team for a Sunday morning group called Living Stones that I first visited in 1998 and is now part of the Seniors ministry at the same church. Of course, eating is involved there as well. I just facilitated a session on John 18 and am scheduled to facilitate again next week. (If you're really interested, I could send you the powerpoint notes.) Every time I do this I discover new things I've never noticed before, but I don't really enjoy the pressure of preparation.

Then there are the informal and/or irregular opportunities which may or may not include ministry. Somehow related to this have been various trips over the past months, mainly in Colorado, and often involving hiking, biking, and/or camping. My physical fitness took a big dip with the prostate cancer surgery and is somewhat recovered although not quite what it once was. I have been losing some weight. Laura exercises regularly and is in good shape, but worried about her shoulders and her sleep.

On a more mundane level there have been various home maintenance projects, financial affairs to manage, and rhythms of daily life. We are grateful when these many things are ordinary and not in crisis. Somehow when we got married we failed to check whether one of us enjoyed cooking, yet every day since we have generally wanted to eat. Sharing this load with each other makes it more bearable, and I am still growing in helping to carry this load.

So there you have it. It turns out that eating is still a big part of life in the twilight zone. Thanks for listening to a bit of our story. We welcome your visits, your care, and the chance to hear your stories as well.

Steve

Steve and Laura Spinella

US: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920

mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
<stevespinella@gmail.com> <

lauraspinella@gmail.com>

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[TEAMspinella] Mr Irrelevant

You may remember I'm "around retirement age." Perhaps you are younger. In that case, you may not yet know that almost everybody who reaches such a lofty status once found it impossible to imagine being such a one. Mature. Senior. Vintage Classic. Keenager. Feisty after Fifty. Grumpy Groovy. As a senior who can use Google, I found among other lists... One Thousand Names for Senior Adults

So as I stumble along, with gradually more frequent unplanned naps, I find that others are noticing too. Someone who hit me from behind accused me of backing into him and told me, "You're old. You should know better." I offered to help a younger neighbor and he said, "No worries. I found someone." I suggested fixing something and another younger neighbor (with kids approaching college!) let me know I could rest easy and he would get to it soon! And there were other gentle suggestions, seemingly at every turn, that life was moving on without me. They haven't stopped coming.

So I went to my men's group and shared that I was feeling irrelevant. They laughed. That's what happens to people like me. After all, the church just started another, more relevant men's group an hour earlier on the same morning!

Seriously I do still have some meaning in my life and I even do some ministry, but dealing with less relevance is an inevitable part of any ministry journey, including an international one. For some it comes sooner than others or more frequently, but it feels different to notice it for myself than it does to be alongside someone else.

With more freedom comes less relevance. I like the freedom, but I wonder, like so many times before and so many people before me, do I even matter? Is it okay if I don't?

Perhaps true contentment does not require relevance, but then perhaps I'm not truly content?

In any case, I want to enjoy life as a good gift and find meaning in the simple things rather than always striving to be something more. And I want to still be available just as I am. After all, I have more free time since I'm not doing all those things for which I've been found irrelevant. I just need to be careful when I pull out of my driveway....

In the one who keeps us, Steve

PS Laura's okay. She's younger and more relevant :-)

Steve and Laura Spinella

US: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920

mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
<stevespinella@gmail.com> <

lauraspinella@gmail.com>

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[TEAMspinella] Wow! It's been a while

We took Laura's mom Martha to her church Sunday and a long time friend asked when I was going to write an email update?! Apparently it's going on six months since I last wrote. That's almost like a sabbatical, to put it graciously.

We have enjoyed some opportunities for ministry, some local, some not so much. Some planned, some serendipitous, some anything but serendipitous given the circumstances. And, as it's been for a long time, telling other people's stories just isn't in the cards :-). (Of course, if you're reading this and want me to tell your story, just let me know. If I agree, others will probably enjoy it too. We all like stories, even when they're not about ourselves.)

Speaking of stories, here's one I can tell. This morning in my men's group I was reminded for some reason of when I was confronted for my arrogance and unteachability in Taiwan, and briefly told the story (as I remember it, of course.) As you might imagine, the men thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, one prayed thanking God for me, just as I am. Another said he loved it because it reminded him of his own arrogance and unteachability. We could all agree that I've been difficult to manage for a long time. (Ostensibly, we were discussing Acts 17, and not just ostensibly, we actually do read, reflect on, and engage the word, just as we are. Maybe you can even figure out the connection?!) I've been involved with this group since the first year after we returned from Taiwan, 2011, and been its primary facilitator for most of that time, but this morning I asked Herb, and he said this group has been meeting for 18 years! Amazing. Each week we try to ask three questions: How are you? What do you notice (from a chunk of Bible)? What are you taking away? (Or what is your last word? Sometimes some of us have a last word for others more than a take away for ourselves!)

And if you get me started, I definitely have some grandchildren stories. By tomorrow, we'll have two grandsons over 2, along with a 4.5 year old granddaughter, and a newly arrived two week old! Sarah and John just had baby Elijah. We've spent a lot of time with them in these first two weeks, especially with Elijah's older siblings. I have probably read Oh, the places you'll go by Dr. Seuss to almost 2 y.o. Isaiah northward of 20 times, sometimes more than once in a sitting.

Thanks for loving us and being interested in our lives and/or ministry. Whether you are nearby or far away, you matter very much. And (collectively) you are in so many interesting places!

Steve and Laura

PS There is another story the men won't let me forget, but I don't look any better in that one either....

Steve and Laura Spinella

US: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920

mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
<stevespinella@gmail.com> <

lauraspinella@gmail.com>

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