A Spiritual Realization

The problem with finally finding the Holy Spirit is that I lose [Him] once I step back out into the secular world.

Retracing some steps

After several months of hesitation, I finally buckled down and completed possibly the most important piece of work I've done all [school] year. I have connected my computer to the printer in Mellby!

I am also eagerly awaiting this Saturday's men's retreat at Lani Land. I went last week with the co-ed group, which was loads of fun, but I feel like I need another chance to reconnect with God, after housing a dormant soul for 6-plus months. My friend Nick and I have been talking about a fasting/devotional session, but right now it's all air. Ultimately, my plan is to become the devoted servant, if you will, which duties I enjoyed fulfilling about this time last year.

So, after careful deliberation I will soldier on into second semester after the last 10 days of Interim, followed by a week of being home. For personal reasons, I had been considering taking a break from school, but I will have help in overcoming the mood swings and distractions that often take over my life. But perhaps with this help I will have side effects in the form of some interesting technological (and not-so technological) gadgets, as well as the ever-continuous love from my family.

So anyway, last Saturday at Lani Land (and Sunday evening at Selah) was easily the most uplifting day of the year so far. I started really remembering what it was like to hang out and pray with several of my spiritual friends again, and at times I was able to feel God's presence again. I just wish I could recognize these as more important personal events than, say, a day at an amusement park. In one sense, that would be a really awesome day, because I get to go on roller coasters (something I really like), but the I only experience the joy on a physical or material level. Seeing God in a vision, or just feeling so uplifted by a glorification song, or praying with some of my best friends gives me joy on so many more levels: spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, etc.

Knowing that for the past few years I've enjoyed highs in January and suffered through lows starting in February, I realize I must prepare for the road that lies just barely ahead of me. Not only will I return to a 4-credit courseload, I must really crunch myself to polishing up my composition portfolio so to have it ready for when I apply as a Bachelor of Music in Theory and Composition. And maybe I'll have some good luck when it comes to keeping tabs on my friends even despite their busy schedules.

Speaking of French

So in class today, we continued exploring different avenues of using the French language. The last few days we've been watching a couple movies for part of the period. The "first movie" (of a movie series) focused on a couple characters (uncle-nephew relation) sabatoge a neighbor's plan to grow crops and raise a new breed of rabbits so to force him to give up the farm. Ugolin, the nephew, has this lifelong dream of growing flowers for a source of income. Of course it helped their cause that the neighbor was a hunchback, the recipient of an inheritence left by his uncle after the conspirators (uncle and nephew) mistakenly killed him while trying to convince him to sell the farm.

Part two takes place several years after the hunchback kills himself by stepping into a hole that had just been blown up with dynamite (a rock hit his head), and Ugolin and his uncle get the farm. The hunchback's daughter still lingers, now 18-ish (she was about 10, I want to say, in the first part), hanging out with a herd of billy goats, while chasing after a young newcomer to the hillside, at the same time as Ugolin is chasing after her to make her his bride.

That's as far as we've gotten in the second movie of the series. The plot is full of pretty heady stuff. Ugolin is the last member of his supposedly-prestigious family (Soubeyrans), past 30, and single. His uncle pushes him to find a girl and marry her so to continue the family line.

*****

We wrote poetry today. During the lunch hour we all had to create sentences with the vocabulary words provided, and after everyone contributed a sentence onto the board, we created short found poems using these sentences.

A couple days ago we had to perform skits, and yesterday we got into a group discussion about the first movie of the series that we're currently watching.

It's been an interesting week. Basically I get up at 9:15, go to breakfast, then class from 10:40 to 3:00 (we eat together for lunch), then weight lifting till 5, then dinner, then computer time and composing until bed. Not bad, except I'm sorely deprived of various people that I really need to talk to and hang out with.