Lovely...

I had a lovely evening.

I met this long-time blogging friend, and we sat for two hours in a starbucks and talked.

It's been a long time since I've had a conversation that flowed freely and easily about the important things in life. About something more than the surface things. A conversation that felt free and honest (at least to me - since I suppose I can only speak for myself...)

It was for me a much needed gift tonight, after a long and wrestle-filled week. A soul-restoring thing.

And, while she couldn't have known it, I realized driving home that it was also a redemptive sort of thing for me to have that sort of conversation in a Starbucks. I've loved the tea and a few other drinks at Starbucks for a long time, but Starbucks has also been very tied to many of the struggles of the last year. So many funny and deep associations.

I didn't really think about all those things when we agreed to meet at a Starbucks. I didn't really think about it even as we were sitting there chatting. But as I was driving home, I realized that it was a redemptive thing for me. To have that enjoyment restored (even though I hadn't totally realized it was gone.)

So I'm saying thanks, to my friend for suggesting that particular location, and to God who somehow orchestrates the things I don't even know I need.

Quote from today...

The quote that follows was on the calendar that sits on my desk at work today - "Wisdom from Women Saints". A gift from a dear friend, and one that seems to speak deeply to my heart most days.

"We tend to pray with great intensity for the things we want, but do we ever think of praying for what God wants? It is very important that when we pray, we move with the current of God's will, and not against it. This is true even when we are praying for someone we love tremendously." (Catherine De Hueck Doherty)

Huh...

I say this as a person who is on the record as a strong hater of winter and all things cold. I want the cooler weather back. I want it to be dark past 6 am (the hour when I'm sometimes just drifting off to sleep after a rough night). This morning I woke absolutely soaking wet - while I have no recollection of being overheated in the night (usually that wakes me as well), I can only conclude that it must have been terrifically hot in my bedroom last night - that, or I was truly thrashing about in my sleep (or lack thereof...).

Last night was incredibly rough. Other than the aforementioned things, there were dreams, and, I woke in immense pain at around 1am, down the entire right side of my body. Not sure what that was about, but it necessitated pain killers, and a few desperate prayers.

So, it's morning.

And I'm at work.

And there have been some frustrations to deal with already. The sorts of things that call for patience, and setting a sense of justice and fairness aside in the face of someone else's entitlement. (If you can't set it aside, you'll go crazy.)

I'm trying to sort out weekend plans. They're fairly dependent on whether or not a phone call I've placed several times is returned. There is an alternate set of plans in place too.

I'm meeting a long time blogging friend in person after work tonight. That should be great fun! I think we've been trading comments and the occasional email since near the beginning of my blog 4 or so years ago, and it should be lovely to finally meet in person.

I'm laughing just a little, in an ironic sort of way, (given some of the things going on around me in the last year and a half) at this quote I came across yesterday, "Junior High called. They want their drama back."

I'm also laughing at the latest cartoon on the Naked Pastor. Perfect clarity indeed!

I'm still in pain this morning, though thankfully not nearly as intensely as last night.

I saw the funniest thing when I glanced in the rearview mirror while sitting at a stop light on my way to work this morning. I looked back and wondered "what the heck is she doing?" After watching for a while, I realized that the driver of the car behind me was taking advantage of the stoplight and using the time to pluck her eyebrows! I've never seen that one before!

For the lack of sleep I've had this week, I've hit some sort of place of hyper-awareness. I'm very aware of some of the things that are going on around me. The beautiful things and the painful things. In some ways, I'm feeling both incredibly aware of the spiritual again, and completely deaf at the same time. It's an odd sort of feeling.

And with that, I'll conclude this all over the place "huh" post and head on into my day!