I'm crashed on the couch, watching "The Motorcycle Diaries" again, with two of my youth kids.
Every time I watch this movie, I fall in love with South America from a distant, and hear again the call on my heart to travel to Peru.
The kids I'm watching with are both artist types... I know they'll see some of the beauty I see every time I watch this movie...
So I'm laying here, letting the Spanish flow over me, and praying for Peru again...
Monday, December 03, 2007
Monday
Today was a little bit crazy at the office.
Seems like almost nothing has gone smoothly with the transition of software systems that we're in the midst of, and today continued that stretch.
There are stressed out people everywhere, and some of my normal duties are suffering because people are dropping last minute high priority items on my desk. Leaving parts of my job undone stresses me out a bit.
I fell asleep for a little bit on the bus on my way home, in that head-bobbing, not quite fully asleep, but definitely can't make yourself wake up kind of way.
I'm having coffee with one of my youth kids in a few minutes.
Time spent praying, with lit candles is probably on my agenda for the evening.
Then hopefully an early bedtime...
Seems like almost nothing has gone smoothly with the transition of software systems that we're in the midst of, and today continued that stretch.
There are stressed out people everywhere, and some of my normal duties are suffering because people are dropping last minute high priority items on my desk. Leaving parts of my job undone stresses me out a bit.
I fell asleep for a little bit on the bus on my way home, in that head-bobbing, not quite fully asleep, but definitely can't make yourself wake up kind of way.
I'm having coffee with one of my youth kids in a few minutes.
Time spent praying, with lit candles is probably on my agenda for the evening.
Then hopefully an early bedtime...
More thoughts from Henri Nouwen
In the interests of clearing out my "to be followed up" email folder, here are two more reflections from Henri Nouwen that I had flagged to share with all of you.
Our Lives, Sowing Times
Our short lives on earth are sowing time. If there were no resurrection of the dead, everything we live on earth would come to nothing. How can we believe in a God who loves us unconditionally if all the joys and pains of our lives are in vain, vanishing in the earth with our mortal flesh and bones? Because God loves us unconditionally, from eternity to eternity, God cannot allow our bodies - the same as that in which Jesus, his Son and our savior, appeared to us - to be lost in final destruction.
No, life on earth is the time when the seeds of the risen body are planted. Paul says: "What is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable; what is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; what is sown is weak, but what is raised is powerful; what is sown is a natural body, and what is raised is a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). This wonderful knowledge that nothing we live in our bodies is lived in vain holds a call for us to live every moment as a seed of eternity.
The wonderful knowledge, that nothing we live in our body is lived in vain, holds a call for us to live every moment as a seed of eternity.
The Dilemma of Life
Do we desire to be with Christ in the resurrection? It seems that most of us are not waiting for this new life but instead are doing everything possible to prolong our mortal lives. Still, as we grow more deeply into the spiritual life - the life in communion with our risen Lord - we gradually get in touch with our desire to move through the gate of death into the eternal life with Christ. This is no death wish but a desire for the fulfillment of all desires. Paul strongly experienced that desire. He writes: "Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would be a positive gain. ... I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and to be with Christ, and this is by far the stronger desire - and yet for your sake to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need" (Philippians 1:21-24). This is a dilemma that few of us have, but it lays bare the core of the spiritual struggle.
Our Lives, Sowing Times
Our short lives on earth are sowing time. If there were no resurrection of the dead, everything we live on earth would come to nothing. How can we believe in a God who loves us unconditionally if all the joys and pains of our lives are in vain, vanishing in the earth with our mortal flesh and bones? Because God loves us unconditionally, from eternity to eternity, God cannot allow our bodies - the same as that in which Jesus, his Son and our savior, appeared to us - to be lost in final destruction.
No, life on earth is the time when the seeds of the risen body are planted. Paul says: "What is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable; what is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; what is sown is weak, but what is raised is powerful; what is sown is a natural body, and what is raised is a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). This wonderful knowledge that nothing we live in our bodies is lived in vain holds a call for us to live every moment as a seed of eternity.
The wonderful knowledge, that nothing we live in our body is lived in vain, holds a call for us to live every moment as a seed of eternity.
The Dilemma of Life
Do we desire to be with Christ in the resurrection? It seems that most of us are not waiting for this new life but instead are doing everything possible to prolong our mortal lives. Still, as we grow more deeply into the spiritual life - the life in communion with our risen Lord - we gradually get in touch with our desire to move through the gate of death into the eternal life with Christ. This is no death wish but a desire for the fulfillment of all desires. Paul strongly experienced that desire. He writes: "Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would be a positive gain. ... I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and to be with Christ, and this is by far the stronger desire - and yet for your sake to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need" (Philippians 1:21-24). This is a dilemma that few of us have, but it lays bare the core of the spiritual struggle.
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