I am watching someone happy--not in a stalker way, but in an observing kind of way...
She is wearing a mid-calf-length pleated (maybe) khaki skirt. A pink/white scrunchy thing ties back her frizzy, dirty blond hair. Her collared maroon shirt just kind of hangs. She's playing ping pong and doesn't seem to have a care in the world. She is neither cool nor graceful, and nothing is particularly impressive...but she is smiling--and laughing a lot. Now she and her friend are playing foosball, still with a constant smile on her face.
and then I stand here at the e-mail kiosk, contemplative.
just got out of a dramatic presentaton of the lives of John and Betty Stam, martyred missionaries to China.
This was Betty's prayer at age 19:
"Lord, I give up my own purposes and plans, all my own desires, hopes, and ambitions and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee, to be Thine forever. I hand over to Thy keeping all of my friendships, my love; all the people whom I love are to take second place in my heart. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Work out Thy whole will in my life, at any cost, now and forever. 'To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.'"
and so now I stand here at the e-mail kiosk, contemplative.
Somehow those two things simplify life for me tonight.
(written and sent in an e-mail a few weeks ago)