I just got back from Yearly Meeting. I am tired. I am frustrated. I am hopeful. I am tired because the schedule was full of time for good things and I wanted to take part in them. I am frustrated because people brought their decisions into the business meetings and functioned as anchors to the Holy Spirit’s leading during our time together. I am hopeful because, even with the anchors, we have a way to move towards a decision. Discernment and consensus are the (often) slow means that the Lord uses to guide us in our decision making as a gathered body of Friends. They require trust in every person around us and a release of anything that may have been brought into the meeting from the outside. We lay everything down at the feet of Jesus and seek His will and not our own. This process is good when it is done in the right way, with the Holy Spirit guiding each one to the present leading. When we can release the anchors or they can leave what is weighing the process down at the foot of Jesus then we are able to really listen and move towards what God has for us. I am praying during this time that God would work to pull the anchors back up for our Yearly Meeting so that we can follow the powerful wind of the Holy Spirit wherever we ought to go.