I like the way that my understanding of Love and Truth eventually answers every question i've come across so far. I like the way that it seems Love is the father of logic. I like the way that it seems that Truth is the author of tranquility. In my understanding, we're given both a guide and a lover; both a just and tranquil master; both a means and an end. I like that.
the next morning i awoke to a cool humid world being washed with spitting, sprinkling rain and shaken by constant distant thunder.
Last week 6 out of 7 days were rainy. We just had a four day break in which we exceeded 100 degrees more than a few times, but next week rain is predicted every day.
I'm gonna go ahead and call it monsoon.
I'm loving the sweet cleansing water and the cooler temperatures, but monsoon is costing some of my friends far more than a little dry heat would demand of me. Flooding in the north and northeast parts of India is catastrophic in its scope, and even close to home the water is threatening to change lives for the worse. Continue to pray for our friends in Nandlal, particularly the family of our dear Nitin, whose houses stand perilously close to large drains which threaten at any moment during monsoon to belch forth water and sweep away all they have built for themselves.
Sometimes i wonder if it's more valuable to be thankful for little things or to be able to view situations in an informed way, from more than one perspective. Biblically, there's a call to rejoice in the mundane - continuously, and in each day the Lord has made. But i know there must be a call to global recognition and an others-focused mindset as well. If there's a balance there, i've yet to find it. It's certainly hard to both rejoice and empathize without being trite and insincere.
Either way, i pray i never become so self-absorbed as to forget what my eyes have been opened here to see: that there are lives going on all around me, and all around the world.
Here's to striking the balance.
::Speaking of balance, it takes a considerable amount to wear a sari really successfully, which I did for the first time at the CHEP closing evening of our summer program. I just thought i would share some photos of the triumph:
Again, to balance; and to the Master of logic and tranquility.
Love from Delhi,
Julie... with a little more balance than she had before.
Last week at our Chat Over Coffee event there was a couple talking to me. They are young and newly married, and are both law students. We talked about the differences in our lives - everything from wedding culture to rent prices in America vs. India. We talked about our past and current lives, and each of our three future goals. And then suddenly, they asked me what i thought of God.
"Well, I think a lot of things about God!", i said, and laughed a little awkwardly. I told then that i thought God made everything, that God loves everyone, and that God sent His Son Jesus to take care of our sin so that we could be together with Him. I talked about God in marriage and God in heaven and God on earth, and i paused for a breath and they were still listening, so i went on. Finally i looked at them and asked, "What do you think of God?"
The husband told me he had just recently begun to doubt God's existence because he's been doing so many good things, and working so hard, and praying so fervently, but still he got rejected for the job he's been applying for. He sees no results from God.
i listened intently and thought about it, and he stopped. and he asked me, "What do you think about that?"
I was able to talk about what i think we deserve. I was able to talk about filthy rags. I was able to talk about gaining the world and losing your soul.
I was able to talk about how the things God gives us are better than any of the things we could wish that he gave. That worldly security and wonderful things are nothing without joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment - and THOSE are the things which God promises us in unlimited supply. I told them that in my opinion, joy and satisfaction are worth so much more than anything else.
It was a beautiful opportunity.
It was amazing that after spending an hour building trust with some new friends, they'll want to hear what you have to say about the purpose of our lives.
It was really good for my heart to be able to say it all out loud and to materialize and find tangibly how passionately i believe it.
And i do.
the next morning i awoke to a cool humid world being washed with spitting, sprinkling rain and shaken by constant distant thunder.
Last week 6 out of 7 days were rainy. We just had a four day break in which we exceeded 100 degrees more than a few times, but next week rain is predicted every day.
I'm gonna go ahead and call it monsoon.
I'm loving the sweet cleansing water and the cooler temperatures, but monsoon is costing some of my friends far more than a little dry heat would demand of me. Flooding in the north and northeast parts of India is catastrophic in its scope, and even close to home the water is threatening to change lives for the worse. Continue to pray for our friends in Nandlal, particularly the family of our dear Nitin, whose houses stand perilously close to large drains which threaten at any moment during monsoon to belch forth water and sweep away all they have built for themselves.
Sometimes i wonder if it's more valuable to be thankful for little things or to be able to view situations in an informed way, from more than one perspective. Biblically, there's a call to rejoice in the mundane - continuously, and in each day the Lord has made. But i know there must be a call to global recognition and an others-focused mindset as well. If there's a balance there, i've yet to find it. It's certainly hard to both rejoice and empathize without being trite and insincere.
Either way, i pray i never become so self-absorbed as to forget what my eyes have been opened here to see: that there are lives going on all around me, and all around the world.
Here's to striking the balance.
::Speaking of balance, it takes a considerable amount to wear a sari really successfully, which I did for the first time at the CHEP closing evening of our summer program. I just thought i would share some photos of the triumph:
Again, to balance; and to the Master of logic and tranquility.
Love from Delhi,
Julie... with a little more balance than she had before.
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