Inspiration...

Dan, my sister Ellie's finance, recently asked her why I had not been blogging for so long. There are many answers to that question, the simplest of which is that I have been rather unconnected as of late and thus did not feel inspired to write. However, the idea that Dan was thinking about me has called me forward again (not unlike so many people's stories of being called to ministry; it is often not until others recognize and name our gifts that we are able to see what we have to give in ourselves).

A more complex reason for my lack of writing has to do with intersecting identities. About 12 weeks ago, I began the less-than-straightforward journey of living into the identity of being pregnant, a journey that, God willing, will end in me taking on the identity of mother somewhere around February 10th of next year. Although I have not been writing, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what it will mean to become a mother and how my identities as a mother and as a scholar and teacher of religion and theology will intersect. How will I do both? I struggle with a lack of imagination in answering this question. My own mother was employed outside the home until I was born, and then she made the decision to work inside the home from then on. I do not know a lot of women in the academy who have had children while at the beginning stages of their academic careers. Let me put that a different way; I know women who have had children while writing their dissertation, but I do not know their stories. Once again I am reminded of the importance of women having models who can help them imagine futures that may be different than what they have previously known.