Tonight has defied expectations.
I was exhausted when I left my office, and less than thrilled for the things I needed to accomplish this evening.
My roommates and I needed groceries. We had a list, and a menu plan, which would make the shopping easier, but I wasn't looking forward to expending the effort that would be required to go to two different stores and purchase the things on our lists.
I restocked on the essentials. You know, fruit, veggies, chocolate. The chocolate was definitely an essential.
It's been a much better evening than I expected it to be.
After groceries, and a quick but good dinner (roast chicken from the grocery store- pre-made, an asian cucumber salad, and green beans, with mango for dessert), I've been curled up in my bedroom.
I went with the no-pressure approach and decided to read a magazine instead of forcing myself into the more intense reading and writing I need to accomplish.
Took a shower, and braided my hair in the hopes of encouraging it to be curly tomorrow.
My bedroom smells like sandlewood and oranges, courtesy of the oil burner sitting near my mirror.
The weather outside has finally cooled off a bit, making Calgary a far more liveable place.
So, I'm sprawled across my bed on my stomach, writing a blog post. In a few minutes I'll finish the article I'm reading in the magazine I bought, and then I'll grab the book I'm reading, and my journal, and finish up a bit of writing I started on the train tonight. I'll eat a bit more chocolate - maybe a chocolate cream oreo or a ferrero rocher. And I'll try for early to bed, in the hopes that tonight will bring more than four hours of rest.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Hope
Hope posted this quote, which she titled "waiting and walking" about hope on her blog this morning, and I loved it too. You can find the post here.
More on Poverty
Poverty (in all sorts of forms) is a theme that's been popping up a lot around me lately.
I read and was quite touched by both the practical advice, and the deep love expressed in this story, "A Swindled Heart." Check it out here.
I read and was quite touched by both the practical advice, and the deep love expressed in this story, "A Swindled Heart." Check it out here.
Henri Nouwen on Poverty
Our Poverty, God's Dwelling Place
How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty.
We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it. Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden.
Meeting God in the Poor
When we are not afraid to confess our own poverty, we will be able to be with other people in theirs. The Christ who lives in our own poverty recognises the Christ who lives in other people's. Just as we are inclined to ignore our own poverty, we are inclined to ignore others'. We prefer not to see people who are destitute, we do not like to look at people who are deformed or disabled, we avoid talking about people's pains and sorrows, we stay away from brokenness, helplessness, and neediness.
By this avoidance we might lose touch with the people through whom God is manifested to us. But when we have discovered God in our own poverty, we will lose our fear of the poor and go to them to meet God.
How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty.
We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it. Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden.
Meeting God in the Poor
When we are not afraid to confess our own poverty, we will be able to be with other people in theirs. The Christ who lives in our own poverty recognises the Christ who lives in other people's. Just as we are inclined to ignore our own poverty, we are inclined to ignore others'. We prefer not to see people who are destitute, we do not like to look at people who are deformed or disabled, we avoid talking about people's pains and sorrows, we stay away from brokenness, helplessness, and neediness.
By this avoidance we might lose touch with the people through whom God is manifested to us. But when we have discovered God in our own poverty, we will lose our fear of the poor and go to them to meet God.
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