Thursday, December 13, 2007

ufff....

This has been one of those days.

I had problems all day with Air Canada, working to change a flight. Finally accomplished it half-way through the Bible study I was leading tonight. Air Canada is not on my list of customer service winners tonight. I'm still waiting to hear from Air Malta on another flight I'm working on changing.

I'm exhausted. I've only eaten about one meal a day for the last week. It's all my stomach has tolerated.

I have a headache, a stiff neck and back, and a desperate need for a full night of sleep. My usual Thursday night television routine is a re-run tonight. I think I'm going to crawl into bed early with a good book, and hopefully sleep for quite a while.

I lived with less than 100 percent as I led a Bible study tonight. It was okay. It would have been better if I hadn't been so personally challenged by the chapters of Velvet Elvis we were studying that I never wrote coherent discussion questions. But hey, we had a good discussion anyway, and I'll have to go back through the chapters again, since they were speaking much to my heart.

ufff... a good statement of feeling for tonight. See you tomorrow.

Anticipating the Vision - Henri Nouwen

Another thought from Henri Nouwen:

Anticipating the Vision

The marvelous vision of the peaceable Kingdom, in which all violence has been overcome and all men, women, and children live in loving unity with nature, calls for its realisation in our day-to-day lives. Instead of being an escapist dream, it challenges us to anticipate what it promises. Every time we forgive our neighbor, every time we make a child smile, every time we show compassion to a suffering person, every time we arrange a bouquet of flowers, offer care to tame or wild animals, prevent pollution, create beauty in our homes and gardens, and work for peace and justice among peoples and nations we are making the vision come true.

We must remind one another constantly of the vision. Whenever it comes alive in us we will find new energy to live it out, right where we are. Instead of making us escape real life, this beautiful vision gets us involved.