sometimes, in the off time...

I think about how much life this place brings me.
I think about how there could be no better place for me, for today.
And I am thankful.

Sometimes I look at these people or I see the flowers and the sky or I take a bite of something right from the earth and I know that this is goodness. I work and I sweat more than ever, and it is joy. I wake up sticky and I go to work in the blistering sun until I drip with exhaustion, and then I fill myself to the brim with good food in the midst of community and go to sleep on the concrete floor of a tiny room that provides solitude and peace, and it is all joy.
A sense of peacefulness fills this place and out of that abundance I cannot help but be affected by it. The peace more than fills me and even spills out and I know it's not my imagination. Others have seen it in me too.
I can't imagine any reason behind why this grace has been bestowed on me now. His presence is not difficult to imagine here. I suppose this time is the preparation and equipping for another season. But thanks be to God.

Shalom