A Walk with Friends

I've just got back from heading out into the night on a stroll with a couple of friends. These stroll's used to be commonplace a number of years ago but have recently died out - it was about time they were resurrected.

I often find the best thinking is done walking. Either walking alone, with friends, with much talking or with little.

We talked about houses a lot. Where we live we have a lot of big - sometimes very big - houses. Some are so big they are ugly. It can be quite disturbing to see that size of house... The interesting thing we noted was how we used to think about our idea homes when we were younger. A common ideal was to have a room dedicated to whatever our hobby may be: library/reading room, sewing room, music room, etc.

That led me on to thinking about idols, things we put above God, and how we discern them. A pertinent point was made to me recently that in order to discern our idols we need only to think upon what we daydream about. Another way would be to consider what we most easily spend our money on.

What do I daydream about? What do I most easily spend money on? Alarmingly easy questions to answer.

How do we reorder these things? Maybe a walk would be necessary to work it through......

Home (Sweet?) Home

A fluid concept. Home.

I have found that a home is hard to come by this past year and a half. At the same time I have found home in the strangest of places.

It is an obvious truth that home is much more than simply the place that you live. But it is a truth that I have not really understood until recently.

I have been living in my new flat for about a week and a half now. And I do love it, for many reasons. It is beginning to feel like home. By which I mean that I am beginning to feel less like I am visiting an as yet unknown friend, and more like I can legitimately play host to friends who come visit me.

On a side note, I am slightly disappointed that I used the word 'love' in the second sentence of the last paragraph. In the English language it is a word that is abused, and it's meaning confused. What I'm mmost disappointed with, thought, is the fact that I had trouble finding an alternative word, and instead felt that writing a whole paragraph about it would be an adequate second to changing the word.

I've been on my own for a majority of the time. I don't think it has been very good for me. I begin to focus on myself too much. I can easily become a recluse, not a good thing. Community is good for me...even though I may not always be good for community!

Anyway. I have no internet, so I have not written much in a while, and may well not for a while again.

Read Blue Like Jazz. I didn't really like it. But then it got better, and I recommend it.