I have often described myself as a poor but devoted gardener. Last year, I killed my fall mums in record time, and if my husband didn’t install automatic watering systems, all our garden produce would wither in the blistering heat of the Idaho sun.
Among the garden tasks I am worst at is the process of thinning, in which the gardener manually plucks out or prunes off healthy plants or fruits in order to make room for the remaining plants to develop to their full potential.
I’ll bet you can guess where I am going with this.
I have loved being a part of Brave New Us for the past 4 years. It was my first foray into the podcasting world, and it gave me the opportunity to converse with amazing individuals, and I have a long list of names of others I’d still like to record with.
But as Ecclesiastes tells us, “There is a time for everything under the sun,” and for now it is time to say, “Goodbye.”
Whether that goodbye is forever remains to be seen.
Of course, we can never know with certainty where God is calling us; if we did, there would be no room for faith. But I have come to believe God is calling me to do the painful work of thinning to make space for greater things to grow.
There are books to be written, prayers to be prayed, reflections to record. Best of all. there is time to be “wasted” with my kiddos while they are still young. There is so much goodness and richness for my heart to take in, and I crave the space to, like Mary, ponder all these things in my heart.
St. Thomas tells us, “If we are well disposed and united to God, yet scatter our love over many things, our virtue becomes weak and we become less able to do good.” While the podcast is on indefinite hiatus, I hope to become less scattered and more centered on Christ and his call in my life.
The past episodes of the podcast and website will continue to be available, thanks to those who have so generously offered financial support over the years to cover the costs of website hosting and maintenance.
I know many of my generous paid subscribers are big fans of the podcast. I will not be at all offended if you choose to pause your subscription until it returns.
If you subscribe because you believe in my work, know that this time “off” of podcasting is 100% dedicated to drafting my new manuscript, which is about 50% complete at this point and I CANNOT WAIT to share it with you! Thank you, THANK YOU, for your commitment to supporting my work. Your encouragement and support keeps me going when the going gets tough.
If you stay subscribed, you’ll still receive:
Notifications when I publish new articles
Author updates
A first look at new projects and notification if/when the podcast does return
You can also join me at Mama Prays, where I’ll be sharing all my blog and podcast content, lots of homeschooling goodies, and author updates for my new book. I hope you’ll all join me by becoming subscribers, free or paid!
I hope you’ll pray for me as I attempt to attend to the call of the still, small voice. Know that I am praying for you, too.
Thank you and God bless!
Samantha
PS
I’d be so grateful if you’d subscribe/review my other podcast, Mama Prays, a podcast for Catholic moms (and dads!) pursuing holiness.