Today

Today I'm sitting in an armchair listening to the wind blow through the weeds in the driveway. It's nice, sitting here, momentarily believing that nothing I do matters. Right now I don't want anything but to be here, in this room, in this house, wearing these clothes, and enjoying this weather. I am content just now; but in about five minutes I will be grumpy again.

Sometimes I wish I could be free of all desire. Sometimes I think living would be better if I didn't have any vested interest in my own existence. I've been thinking about the verse that says "and this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ who you have sent". It's hard to think about life in terms of relationship with a person, especially with the Poet of the Cosmos. I want to pursue real life and seek after real love, and live with a full awareness of the glorious inheritance that is mine in Jesus. I want to enjoy what is temporal and tangible, but I want to love and recognize with my whole self what is eternal and invisible.

I learned to pray in French class two days ago. I'm realizing that what's important for me in language learning is developing early on a spiritual/emotive/religious vocabulary. It's all well and good to memorize the words to "La Vie en Rose", but it's better to be able to speak to God straight from the heart in another tongue. The most beautiful thing I learned about speaking to God in French is that when we pray we use the informal second person "tu" as opposed to the more respectful but distant "vous". This is lovely because it means that when I speak with God, I speak with him as someone close beside me, not far away.

Notre Père Céleste,

Nous te remercions
pour ta grâce,
pour ta bonté, et
pour ta fidélité.

Nous prions,
pour la joie
et la paix dans le monde

Nous prions ceci au nom de Jésus.
Amen!



O Lord, open thou our lips
and our mouths shall show forth thy praise.