Blessing

Something about the dimness of a rainy sky has its fingers rooted in my spirit, so that when the rain comes cold and trembling to the thirsty ground, it comes singing like a blessing. It draws me irresistibly outside to hold me close, to hold me shivering and happy, bare-foot in the muddy grass and face tilted to the sky-born water, calling out:

Oh wash my eyes and make me see!
Wash my lips and make them clean,
run down my chin and through my teeth
until I thirst no more!

Beneath me, the earth drinks deep until its pores are full and overflowing in cool streams between my toes. I am too small to do the same: this body cannot hold enough of anything to satisfy my heaven-reaching soul.

Someone’s voice is in the rain and echoes in my brain. It is a love song. It cries:

I love you, I love you,
I will quench your thirst both today and tomorrow,
when the sun returns to wither the grass,
and the earth’s wells run dry.

These words, falling heavy on my chest, steal the breath from my throat.
With my tiny voice drowning in all this thunder, how can I sing my reply?

2-24-12 Miscellaneous

Because I am terribly lazy.

• The precalc test today was not worthy of the worry I gave it beforehand (thank you, Lord!). I did find, however, that I am terrible at multiplying beyond the twelves without a calculator. It took me a good minute to figure out 13 • 13. Sigh. 

• We have begun to play the evolutionary-model games in Bio. "The Finches of Candyland" was a lot of fun. I was a chopstick finch and had to move various pieces of candy from one table to a cup on another. M&Ms are hard, Nerds are ridiculously difficult, and gummy bears are the best. They are just so delightfully squishy that I could grab them even when they made me use the chopsticks with my left hand. Looking forward to playing GlumpGlumpTime (my group's game) on Monday.

• I spontaneously developed a rivalry with Marina while playing Frisbee, which entailed a lot of yelling "NO!" and half-tackling. If I can't catch it, neither can she!! (That was fun.)

• The difference between shame and guilt: I believe guilt is a state of being--as in, you are innocent or guilty of doing something wrong. Shame is an internal feeling that can be independent of real guilt. For instance, you could do something and be guilty, but feel no shame for it; you could also be wrongly accused of something and still feel shame for the perceived guilt. It turns out that many people disagree with my definition. Thoughts?

• Tim has this awesome connect-the-dots coloring book of legendary/mythical creatures, and he let me use it. I spent all of last period connecting 459 dots to make a Pegasus. I NEED ONE OF THESE BOOKS. 

• Alix and the rest of my robotics team departed for Williamsport this afternoon, as there's a competition there tomorrow. (I couldn't go because I'd already signed up for the Praying Life conference.) Best of luck to them!

• I have been working hard on the Elwood-Harvey portrait, and I'm almost done. All you drama peeps will see the finished product on Monday. The rest of you will have to wait until the play. 

 "This portrait over your mantel. Who painted it?"

"Um...me." << Haha. As if I'd actually say that.

• A very small spider descended from the ceiling on an invisible thread. Nathan and I blew it back and forth a few times before killing it. Playing catch with miniscule spiders? New favorite game. 

• It's been gloomy or raining all day. I really enjoy these kinds of days once in a while, mostly because the sky becomes this lovely grey color, and all the tree branches are outlined so strikingly against it in black. Also, rain = mud = fun. 

Mud Flats

Look at how the mud just goes on and on.

ME: You know, I want to go to a mud flat someday and just like, wrestle with somebody.

MOM: I have never had that desire. You're so weird.

BUT IT LOOKS LIKE FUN.

especially if you're doing something as cool as catching octopi.

or maybe football or crab races. Imagine that.

I mean, playing in a mud flat would be like playing in mud puddles x100awesomeness.

So.

 Does anyone want to come with me, or am I alone in this endeavor?