A year in the mirrors, a new one dead ahead...

thought one for today:
"We all know that the truth often hurts. We use this cliche as a defense for having hurt someone, and sometimes it is indeed necessary to tell this kind of truth. But there is truth which does not hurt--
truth which encourages and surprises with delight and gratitude.

What if a teacher sees that a colleague of hers has succeeded in breaking down the resistance of a pupil who has been the despair of the other teachers, the talk of the faculty lunchroom? The change in the student is noticed, a sigh of relief is heaved, but who goes to the teacher herself and says, "Thanks! You've done what the rest of us couldn't do!"

How many are free enough from themselves to recognize the worth of others and to speak of it honestly?

....I was talking with a lady who had been a missionary for forty years, and I noticed that she had exceptionally lovely hands. "Has anyone ever told you your hands are beautiful?'' I asked. The dear soul was so flustered one might have thought I had committed an indecency. She looked at her hands in amazement.

"Why . . . why no. I don't think anyone ever has!'' But she saw that I meant it, and she had the grace to hear the truth. She said thank you.

"Tell it like it is," is the watchword today. But suppose it's lovely? Suppose it's actually beautiful? C. S. Lewis said that the most fatal of all nonconductors is embarrassment. It seems
to me that life is all too short to let embarrassment deprive us and our friends of the pleasure of telling the happy truth.

Tell them.

Tell them now."

~gracias, Dona Eliot, heroine extraordinaire

thought two for yesterdays:

the worst thing about community
is that there are MORE PEOPLE
to hurt
when one walks in the flesh.

oh, for the good old days when the only ones
affected
were me and God.

i'm sorry.

thought three for the random:
Do you know who Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is, or do you just call him "the president of Iran?"

(i just call him "the president of Iran," or "Big Ma," if he's in a good mood...)

I'm still practicing... "Ah... ma...din...ee...jad"...
whew!

Horizon (schemata) expansions of the past semester (or "Fall 2006 Jeopardy"):
~What does the theory of relativity have to do with me!? And what's the probability that my mass of molecules will somehow end up in Peru without buying a plane ticket? (A: I'm waaay to massive for probability to mean anything. But I'm okay with that.)
~What's going on the southern parts of Africa, and do they speak english and know what a posse is?!
~Who is Louis Phillipe? And why was he pear-shaped? (A: he was bourgeois! what else do you expect?)
~Was Marx a Satanist, or just demonic? What do he and I have in common, and considering our similarities, how do I know I won't launch the destruction of the 22nd century?!
~How does one match one's pace to God's? How can I be sure I'm not walking too fast for providence, or driving too slow for fate? How far does serendipity go? Is there such a thing as coincidence?
~Theoretically, can you really still get your course requirement filled if you technically, hypothetically, sort of fail a class? (Not that I did or anything... we're talking theory here.)
~What lessons can you learn from Hitler? Lenin? Catherine the Great?
~What is Trinidad's most excellent export?

thought five, full of thanks:
~Thank you, professors, for every thought shared, for ever lecture prepared, for every book synthesised into note-taking form. Thank you for fairness, justice, and grace. I need to learn them all.
~Thank you Mother for prayer, for prayer, for prayer. Thank you for defining love for me every day.
~Thank you, mein Turi, for being real before God not just occasionally, not just when emotional, not just collectively, but always. For loving Him, for really seeking His Kingdom, for understanding, for being REAL. You are a soldier and my hero.
~Thank you, Ñaña mia, for the greens, for the PRAYERS, for the cheerfulness, for the yanayaku, for the company, for the sharing. Thank you for making 31 de proverbios visible.

~Thank you, my Lord for the following, and all I forget to thank You for each day:

*school & education, from wherever it comes *American citizenship *fellowship in the Gospel (people who adore You for saving them!) *the kids *the Familia... the southern Familia *people who are wise and know how to share their wisdom *beauty *those who USE their gifts *prayer- the prayers of others *Texan sunrises *dew and pine trees *forgiveness, grace, faithfulness *cohesion *transportation & communication *laughter that is pure *music *people who make one THINK *an alternative to this world... while IN this world *a future, a plan, a Kingdom that WINS *Peru *photography *the senses *memory *the Church that is persecuted, but not dissuaded *my Girls *the brotherhood *examples & heros *every God-breathed word made alive at exactly the right time...

*You.

fill this new year. I tell you that if you believe, you will SEE the GLORY of God.