Serious Gray

My office is gradually becoming this color ...  Serious Gray by Sherwin Williams. I think it should be called something else. Perhaps just for today. Quietly Happy. Or Unexpected Grey.

"Serious Gray"

 My day began with a random surprise. After I dropped my sister-in-law off at the airport it was 5:50 A.M. and I pulled through Starbucks drive-up for a latte. When I reached the window the barista told me the person ahead of me had paid for my coffee and said I should have a good day. A random act of kindness. All day long I've tasted that sweet moment - it has made me feel like I sit under a rainbow or something.

Random kindness

Today I'm doing a final proof of the manuscript God in the Sink. I could spend hours hunched over the pages and the computer. So to keep myself from getting permanently crooked I decided to set the timer. 45 minutes at the computer and 45 minutes painting my office.  I'm almost done with the manuscript, about 1/4 of the office is painted and there are still some hours left in the day. It's been a good plan for this day.

Proofing

So far the funniest mistake I found was a sentence that mentioned how Minnesotans often end sentences with a preposition, like "Do you wanna go with?" Instead of preposition I had written proposition. Can't remember the last time I was propositioned. Oh, well.

During the last painting slot I listened to an interview with John Stott. I think the best quote out of it was:
"I've learnt very early on that Christianity is not a religion and it is not an institution, it is a person. It was enormously helpful for me to discover that Christianity is Christ and and that what matters is a personal relationship to Christ..... It's all Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. Knowing Him, loving Him, serving Him, trusting Him, gaining Him. 'To me to live is Christ', Paul said, and I think, I hope without boasting I can say the same, it is a Person."

I almost chose "Gibralter" a shade of darkened stone. But maybe that would've been appropriate, too. Christ, our Rock.
  
Thanks for stopping by. I hope some time, some day a stranger gives you a coffee, too.

Port Grim, Tasmania

I was deeply interested by the contrasts in this BBC news report, and the inexplicable, unpredictable response of humans. It seems there is a question to be asked: what explains or predicts human happiness? Can one be “happy” in a poisonous environment? Obviously, yes. I love clean air and pure water and think I can’t live without it, but perhaps we need exuberance, human laughter, shared community more than a perfect atmosphere?

Hot Cross Buns

Yesterday was Maundy Thursday. A rare day, a good day. One of those days when I felt like I was twenty and could do anything I put to mind or body. First thing in the morning, I took a plate of hot cross buns down to the coffee shop. Not such a big deal, really. (I’d made them the night before.) But to them, yes, it was a big deal. If I could do it every day, I would. Just to get the strokes and the joy. It’s conflicting to live with personal corruption.


But the reward for paying mind to the people who every day show up and make good coffee for their customers, is that over the past months the manager has become a friend and we know most of the employees. When I make the buns, I love cutting the cross in the dough as it rises and after they’re baked filling the depressions with glazed icing. It overflows in sweet runnels and puddles around the bottom. It’s probably the only place I allow such blatant Christian propaganda in my life. Here: have these buns, see the cross in the middle? They’re tender and sticky with bits of raisin and apricot surprises, and perhaps you, too, will some day be surprised by Holy Week, by Christ’s tenderness and suffering and you’ll eat that joy.

For centuries Hot cross buns have been baked and eaten on Good Friday and were originally connected to the celebration of true Easter.