Pathetic Encounter #1
I was on the airplane and reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns". It's by the same guy who wrote "Kite Runner". Both are intense... good, but really intense. So I'm about halfway through and there's a situation with an orphanage. ***Little Spoiler*** A mom has to drop off her 7 year old little girl at an orphanage in Afghanistan because the family has no food and the country is in war. So of course the author goes into this vivid explanation of the drop off. The facial expressions, the dust swirling in the air, the unspoken fears....it was relentless, really. Well, anyway, I just lost it. Right there on the airplane. And it wasn't the calm little dab your eyes on your sleeve kind of cry. It was a sucking on a vacuum cleaner kind of cry. So I faced the window and stared at the pollution as we landed.
Pathetic Encounter #3
Tonight, I walked through the streets for a little bit, taking pictures and just relaxing. My introverted side needed some picture taking and people watching. I'm listening to Christmas music as I'm walking the streets and watching cell phones replace the laughter of their child in the stroller. I'm watching Christmas sales and lines around the corner to buy expensive jewelry. I'm standing backwards in the subway and it was as if I was the only person standing still while people and things flew past me at warp speed. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" was playing as I was watching lifeless, oblivious people and things fly passed me into the background of Christmas. As I was weeping, my heart broke for the confusion over this holiday. As believers, we HAVE to celebrate differently than this world. We have reason to celebrate. We are not to remain in a state of dismay and confusion, especially during Christmas.
Christ came, revealed himself to the prominent and to the lowly. I pray that the Lord would allow me to remain somberly joyful this Christmas. And thank you Lord, for the gift of tears....even if it is pretty darn pathetic :)
