In my seminary classes, they want to stretch us. They want to make us think. By supper on most days, I feel like I cannot think or listen anymore. So I take evening walks and count street lamps and listen for night sounds. The other night a huge full moon rose in the east and I imagined climbing on it and riding it until morning. My mind was tired and wanted to play.
This weekend I have been studying for a Greek exam, reading textbooks, and working on a paper. I like to work in coffee shops on Saturdays with a tall, steamy cup beside me. Between chapters, I watch the steam lift in a slow dance from the rim. I watch the sun lean against the street. I watch people walk by, and I remember.
I suppose the remembering is a sign that I am growing old. When I spot a baby in arms, I marvel that I ever held one. Was it real? For some reason, I vividly remember coloring Easter eggs with my children. And I think of my gardens and how I might have been in one of them. Tulips, bright as Christmas bulbs, would be waving from a sea of violets.
Such things seem far away when books are piled high in front of me and deadlines loom.
I fight back the thought that I am too old for this, that I have started late, that there will be little time left after I graduate. I recall in the Gospels the wedding in Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine, and the host remarked, "You have saved the best for last."
Late in life, school is a feast for the soul, the best wine served last. It is a chance to stretch and drink deeply before the shadows of earthly years have grown long. I lift my cup to the sun and to the people passing by. I propose a toast to small miracles. Who knows what this one may yield?
Have you ever taken a chance on something that you were not sure was practical?
7 comments:
Cassandra..I've taken a few chances, and always been rewarded. That's not saying those chances paid off, necessarily. Some were absolute busts -- but I'm still glad I took each and every one of them.
Yep,they would make an interesting list, quite sure of it. :)
Cassandra....sometimes I think when we are older we can appreciate learning a bit more, there is a richness to it. You are never too old for an adventure! Lori
I can think of one--the writers conference this year. It wasn't really very practical, but God made it possible.
Hello neighbor. Woke up missing having coffee with you today. Came here hoping to see you, and sure enough I did, through your this last post you have written.
As I was reading, I walked with you, counted the street lamps, and I watched you climbing my full moon. I first thought who could be my visitor, then I realized it was you.
As for your question my friend, my whole life has been a " taking chances" on something.
As life passes by us, fast decisions stands at our life doorsteps and asks this question always, are you willing to take this chance? Sometimes we join the life with its chances, and sometimes we do miss the whole passing by.
Is life, as we want to live it, is ever practical?
I love your last paragraph.
Here I drink my cup of coffee with you and enjoying reading your heart.
Have a wonderful blessed day.
PS: I may have to learn Greek, so I can communicate with you soon LOL
So, this was you climbing my full moon. I was wondering, I thought it was you, but the way you have your hair done, I did not recognize you. :)
I have learned to take chances only when life is not practical, by human standards.
Enjoyed my coffee with you, my friend and neighbor. :)
"It's never too late to become what you might have been." - George Eliot
One of my favorite quotes. It's printed on the back of my business card. I only have business cards because I went to the ACFW conference last year. I'm not sure I even gave any out. ;)
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