{"id":445,"date":"2014-09-09T07:55:38","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T11:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2014-09-08T21:34:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T01:34:11","slug":"the-verger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/?p=445","title":{"rendered":"The Verger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cImagine what you could be, if only . . . \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

When I was in junior high, we were assigned to read the short story THE VERGER by W. Somerset Maugham. You can read the full version here: http:\/\/www.sinden.org\/verger.html<\/p>\n

The shorter version:<\/p>\n

Albert Edward Foreman was the verger (lay person) of St. Peter\u2019s in Neville Square and had been a faithful servant for sixteen years. So imagine his surprise when he was let go by the new vicar, who didn\u2019t like the fact that Albert couldn\u2019t read nor write.<\/p>\n

He went walking to clear his head, craved a cigarette, but couldn\u2019t find a shop that sold any. So he opened his own. It did so well, he opened another. And then another. And then ten more. Until one day the banker talked to him about switching from a bank deposit to a more lucrative form of investment. When he revealed he couldn\u2019t read, the banker exclaimed – “. . . what would you be now if you had been able to?”<\/p>\n

To which Albert Edward Foreman replied, \u201cI’d be verger of St. Peter’s, Neville Square.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about this story a lot lately. If things went smoothly all the time, if we were never forced to seek a change for ourselves and our lives, think of all the opportunities we would have missed. So many disappointments in my life have ultimately led me to a place of greater happiness. <\/p>\n

Of course, Albert didn\u2019t wait around for his next opportunity to find him. In fact, he went out, cleared his head, found a need, and filled it. He made things happen for himself. He found a way to survive, and ultimately, to overcome.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, when I tell parts of my life story, people say, \u201cOh, my goodness. I\u2019m so sorry that happened to you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I appreciate the kind words, but I look at where I am now, how crazy the past 4 months have been, and how they might not have happened if some of the bumps in my path had not been there. And I\u2019m eager to say, \u201cNo \u2013 it\u2019s okay. It\u2019s great even. Because look where I am now. Look at the good I have now. I wouldn\u2019t have had it if these things hadn\u2019t happened. I wouldn\u2019t even know how good it all could be if the yuck hadn\u2019t been there.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I could have been the Verger. I\u2019m so glad I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cImagine what you could be, if only . . . \u201c When I was in junior high, we were assigned to read the short story THE VERGER by W. Somerset Maugham. You can read the full version here: http:\/\/www.sinden.org\/verger.html The shorter version: Albert Edward Foreman was the verger (lay person) of St. Peter\u2019s in Neville…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,152],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dating","category-the-road-to-recovery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2UnPK-7b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeywrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}