Episode 16 - Three Little Dots

Welcome to Season 2! Anni shares some fun news and gives an update for what’s ahead.

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Transcript

Welcome to Season 2 of Barely Christian, Fully Christian. I'm your host, Anni Ponder, and I'm so glad you've stopped by for the conversation about loving Jesus, being repulsed by the unChrist-likeness of so much of what the world sees from Christianity, and my personal favorite, honoring the Holy Spirit as the Divine Mother, or as I call her, Mama God.

Today's episode is called Three Little Dots. It's a very brief episode that will tell you what I'm up to and what you can look forward to in the coming weeks and months.

Welcome back! It's been a little bit of a longer sabbatical than I planned to take, but I'm learning that's how life kind of just goes. We don't know what's coming next, and we flow with the flow. So while I have been absent from this platform, many good things have been happening, and I can hardly wait to tell you about them. So I'm not going to. I'm going to tell you right now. Thing number one, perhaps you've heard already, but in case not, hear ye, hear ye, Finding Mama God, the women's retreat, coming to you this November of 2024. I don't know when it is in time and space that you're listening to this podcast, but for those of us in real time, November 8, 9, and 10 of 2024, there's a women's retreat happening in the middle of Washington State, and I hope you can make it. It will be focused on the feminine divine, who I know you've heard me talk about before, Mama God, our Holy Spirit, and other elements of the Trinity that show up as feminine as well.

And so there will be feasting and dancing and learning. There will be studies into scripture, there will be movement, there will be art, there will be rest, there will be time in nature, and the best part is it's not just the Anni Ponder show. That's right, because as we all know we are better together, I have collected a few dear wonderful women who are also on this path of chasing, as they say in Scotland, the wild goose. When you go on a wild goose chase, you're looking for evidence of the Holy Spirit, and so we're chasing the wild goose together, and I can hardly wait. So if you would like some information about that, please hop on over to my website and let me know if you have any questions.

Okay, thing number two, that is brewing, that is a'brewin', and I'm so excited to tell you about this.

I could ask you for a drum roll please, I'm not gonna do it in my little podcast closet, but here it is. I am going to study theology. That's right. There has been an opportunity presented, and this is, if you have sat with me around a campfire, I've probably talked about this at some point with you, a lifelong desire to study theology.

And so I am enrolling at the St. Stephen's University for this fall in the program of Master's in Theology and Culture with an emphasis on Peace and Justice Studies. How cool is that? So what that means, that's a perfect segue. I couldn't have done it better myself. Okay. I am going to take this slow from here on out. I had planned in the fall to get right back to podcasting every other week and blogging on the opposite weeks and sending out a monthly newsletter and doing social media posts.

And I'm just not going to do all of that while studying. And so, hence the three little dots. That's the name of this episode. And perhaps you're wondering what does she mean by three little dots? Okay.

So I used to be an English teacher among many other things, and I am a self-proclaimed grammar nerd. So I love to teach my students about punctuation and mechanics. I know I'm not like the other kids on the playground and I'm totally okay with that. I actually find joy in correcting comma splices and replacing the misplaced modifiers in sentences. I know some of you are thinking she needs professional help for this, it's a problem. But I'm just so excited about grammar.

So, one day I was teaching my young students. I had a classroom full of fourth to sixth grade Montessori students, some of the best people in the wide, wide world. And one of them, a dear young woman who is just now on her way to the Philippines to fulfill an 18-month-long mission.

She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation, and off she goes, and I'm so proud of her. Anyway, this young woman comes up to me and says, Profe, which was the name that my students always called me.

It was a beloved nickname given to me a long, long time ago, just means teacher. She said, Profe, I know you were talking about the ellipsis, those three little dots that sometimes writers use and their thought connectors. She said, would you like to know what my mother told me I could use to remember what those three little dots are meant to do? Of course, I was delighted to hear about this because I'm always happy to talk about grammar, and so I said, yes, what do you know about the three little dots?

And she took her pencil and pointed to each one one at a time, and she said, these three little dots mean "more to come." More to come. Whatever I just wrote, I put down these three little dots and then there's something more that follows.

And I thought, that's brilliant. I'm keeping that. And so I am putting three little dots over my life right now and I'm giving myself permission to not do as much as I had hoped to set out doing. I am maybe not even going to write the novels a'brewing in me at this point.

I'm waiting for a much, well not a much, anything. I'm waiting for when the timing is right and I thought it would be this fall, but instead I'm replacing that with three little dots. More to come. So you will probably hear from me a little bit less frequently than in the first season of Barely Christian, Fully Christian.

But I'll always be around and if you want to get a hold of me and have a conversation, I would still love to hear all the things that are happening in your world and especially talk about any of the topics that I write and speak about or anything on your mind.

So please don't hesitate to reach out and we will see what comes of these three little dots. Perhaps you can use them in your own life. Feel free. I don't have any sort of copyright on the three little dots.

By the way, just for fun, because the grammar nerds of the world do need to clarify this. When you have three little dots in a row and then a minute later you have three little dots in a row again and you're talking about both sets of three little dots, you no longer call them an ellipsis, but ellipses. That's the plural. Isn't that beautiful? Ellipses. Yes. So be looking out for all the ways that the ellipses show up in your life and I will as well. And I will look forward to hearing from you as I hope you will from me.

Thank you so much for listening. Let's connect. I'm always happy to hear from my listeners and readers. You can find me at BarelyChristianFullyChristian.com. And now for more of my favorite song by Wyn Doran and Paul Craig, please enjoy "Banks of Massachusetts."