Tuesday Evening

It is Tuesday evening and “Law and Order” is on. I got home from Vermont on Friday and went to a party for The Gathering on Saturday and led the community on Sunday. Yesterday and today I’ve worked at The Gathering and done some writing. We have a garage sale this weekend; there is a lot to get ready. I have been busy, but fortunately not stressed.

Brooke is on the couch next to me; she loves “Law and Order”.

It is a moment, even with the television on, when we both can slow and let time move through us. Too often, we move through time. I think about this and see how much my life is based on time: I write for certain amounts of time, get to The Gathering at a certain time to meet with people, eat lunch or dinner at set times because my body is conditioned to get hungry at those times. During most of the day I move through time. I watch it and spend it and try to use it wisely.

But this evening, time moves through me; it moves through us. The clock does not matter. We only listen to and watch a mystery story, and after we will read or talk. We will not pay much attention to when we go to sleep and we have nothing left to do this evening — no demands or responsibilities.

I love sitting next to my wife at times like this. I think of how I love her like a man trying to run with a limp: imperfectly, with grit, with all of myself. Her feet touch my arm and they are cool on my skin. For a moment, time moves through us.

Tonight we sit together on the couch. We watch a story. We let time move.

Golf and a Link

So, it’s been a pretty normal Thursday: a morning of writing and an afternoon of work for The Gathering.  Right now, Brooke is out on some errands and I’m winding down for the day.  It looks like it could be a movie night, with the possibility of a round of golf tomorrow morning (par 3, of course).  We’ll see what happens.  All I know is that with Tiger out for the summer, I definitely see an opening.

In other news, I know I’ve talked about language and the Bible, and I thought this article was appropriate.  Sometimes, working at The Gathering and trying to redefine Christianity, I really feel like the pastor … er … dude this article is about.  And, it offers some levity when I get overly worked up about semantics.