When I first was elected to the State Senate I was awestruck by the signicance of working inside the Capitol. The Capitol. The Capitol is a place you visit on field trips, or that you look up online (or an encyclopedia, once upon a time). But not until I was blessed with a victory and appeared on the Senate Chamber floor for the first time to be sworn in did it finally hit me.
Fast-forward 15 months 13 days and the effect hasn't worn off. However, it tends to slip my mind in the course of the daily hustle and bustle of the legislature. When you have meetings that bleed from one to the next, and you have as many meetings in your office and committee room as you do in the hallways walking from place to to place, it's easy (and appropriate) to focus on the substance of the conversation you're in at any given moment. But the long days and endless policy discussions easily distract from what's happening - and that I'm smack dab in the middle of it.
On quiet occasions, when nothing else is happening and no one is hovering to talk about a bill, I make an effort to pause...to slow down long enough to remember what I've been tasked/burdened/blessed to do.
I can scarcely believe it, but I am thankful God has given me an opportunity to serve here.
Kentucky State Capitol at sunset - April 13, 2014.