taking the world into my arms

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Highlights of this past week:

+ Wednesday evening: grace to somehow crank out a philosophy paper in just a few hours. (Hour-long phone calls with philosophy-PhD-aspiring brothers who can explain how thoughts could exist without thinking beings are always helpful.)

+ Thursday night: in bed before midnight for once - both Kathleen and I warm under our bedspreads sitting in the dim light reading our books.

+ Friday morning: silence in my room after getting back from early morning pilates class. Organic yogurt, my favorite design blogs, prayer, a bit of reading, some Jon Foreman, and a little knitting - all before 9am.

+ Saturday afternoon: walking on the leaves-scattered sidewalk around the quaint neighborhoods, decked in scarves and mittens, eating a baguette fresh from the French bakery, breathing the brisk and rainy air.

+ Later Saturday afternoon: knocking on the door of my professor's home, being ushered into the scent of pumpkin pie and the sound of Christmas music and the warmth of the smiles of all the elderly Mennonite women - learning the rhythm of working and talking with them.

+ Sunday afternoon: tea and cookies in my room with two sweet girls . . . talking about Dante and Dostoevsky and all the places we want to go in Europe.

+ Sunday evening: dinner with Margaret in a young couple's apartment from church . . . homemade chorizo tacos, friendly conversation, and generous hospitality.

I don't mean to make it sound like my life is perfect - believe me, there were plenty of moments this week that weren't so beautiful. But I find that reflecting on those moments of grace helps me to grow in the discipline of amazement . . .

When it's over, I want to say: All my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
(Mary Oliver)

all this grace,
Jessina
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