Troy

I get off work each day at 4:30. Today, however, I did not arrive home until after 7 this evening. You know how it goes, world...Putting gas in the car, a quick run into the grocery store, popping in to check on grandparents...by the time all that is accomplished...the evening is shot.

 

As I put away groceries and threw together a sandwhich for dinner, I put the movie Troy into the DVD player. Now, I've seen this movie about fifty thousand times, and can quote back certain scenes on command if asked. Since, we've already established through past posts that I am a hopelessly unrepentant book worm, you can  undertstand perhaps then, my fascination with the classic stories of The Iliad and The Odyssey. In high school I was in AP Literature and relished every chapter, every detail of these tragic stories. I loved the language, and how instead of surnames, men were referred to as the "Son of" someone else, like "Achilles, Son of Peleus". Or known by what their city was well known for, like "Hector, Tamer of Horses".

 *Sigh*. I love it.

This particular version of the story of the Iliad, starring Brad Pitt as Achilles, though not completely true to original, it is by far, my favorite adaptation of the Epic. I believe that it does a beautiful job of portraying the contrasting sides of the man that makes up perhaps the most complex character in all of Greek mythology. We see Achilles as the hardened soldier, with no physical weakness on the battlefield, whose only shortcomings are his character flaws... his pride, and his penchant for pouting when he doesn't get his way (regardless if thousands of his countrymen die as a result of his inaction). Then we see the softer side. The side that takes up for and falls in love with the captive Briseis. The side that loves his cousin so much that he will not allow him to fight in the battle. Ah. What a character that Achilles is.

So, as I was putting my groceries away, and generally thinking of other things, the movie provided only background noise, until my attention was caught by a very moving scene between Achilles and Briseis. His monolouge gave me pause..he says,

" I'll tell you a secret. The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal. Because any moment might be our last. Everything's more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovlier than you are now. We will never be here again."

I love it.

Now granted, I don't believe in any of the various Greek deities, so that is not even up for discussion. But think about the other part of what he says. "Any moment might be our last...we will never be here again."How can you argue with that? It's true. Any moment could indeed be our last. Where you are right now...you will never be there again. That makes each present moment, all the more beautiful...or...at least it should.

"You will never be lovlier than you are now...We will never be here again."

Think about it.

An Ode to Spring

***This post was originally written yesterday...on the actual first day of Spring. Please pardon the delayed posting.

Gray light light filters softly in through the closed blinds of my bedroom window. I rise slowly, hoping that when I slide my fingers through the slats, I will be greeted by brilliant sunshine, the harbinger of a beautiful day. Alas, it is not to be.

If not looking carefully, one might think it is just another dreary cold winter's day. But, upon closer examination, you would see that you were wrong. The moment that you stepped outside, instead of the breathtaking bitter cold, you would be greeted by warmer air, tinged with only a slight chill. You would see thick tufts of green grass, growing full, overtaking the winter brown. On the spindly limbs of the naked trees, you would begin to see little buds, growing on their ends. You would hear the chatter of robins. You would realize, that today, is the first day of Spring!

One might think, as a person of extremes, that I would love the winter and the summer; times of either suffocating heat or overwhelming cold. I, however, love the seasons in between; spring and fall. There is something so liberating about the first days of the spring. Sometimes it seems as though, like the trees and the grass, we humans, too, go dormant in the winter. And when that first warm breeze drifts through the air, we slowly, begin to come alive again. Our soul awakens.

Spring makes me want to clean. Ha. It makes me want to go get a pedicure, and pull out my favorite pair of flip flops(which by the way, my dog chewed to pieces yesterday). Spring makes me want to go lay in the grass, allergies notwithstanding. It makes me want to go down to the river front, and take my dog for a long walk. It makes me want to ride aimlessly around town, windows down, sunroof open, with Melody Gardot and Norah Jones blasting through my speakers. Spring makes me want to drink in the very air I'm breathing, poisonous mold spores and all. Spring simply makes me glad to be alive.

A Reminder

How can I stand here with You and not be moved by you?!

A thought provoking reminder of the constancy of God's love. When He feels far away, remember that He never changes, and that it is us who move away from Him. He's just waiting for us to come back to Him.

A Kind Word

Yesterday, as I was mopping a restroom in one of the buildings where I work, one of the men who actually works in that building stopped to talk to me. He is a pastor from the Ukraine and speaks English with a soft, almost musical accent. Whenever we work in his building, he is always asking me how I am doing, and when I will return to school to finish my degree.

As I was mopping the floor, concentrating on the task at hand, I noticed a figure standing by the door in my peripheral vision. I looked up, turned, and smiled when I saw who it was. He returned the smile and said in his soft accent, “Rachel. Little Cinderella for now…but one day you will be a queen.” I gave him  big smile and said 'Thank you', and he said, “It’s true” and then turned and walked away.

When he had turned the corner, and I went back to mopping, tears began to well in my eyes. His words were so simple, but spoken in such sincerity that I knew he meant what he said. There, in the middle of my busy work day, I was given a beautiful gift. It was as if God, the Father, had spoken to me himself and said, “My little lamb, I know things are difficult for you now. I know things have not gone as you planned, as you wanted, but, things will not be this way forever. There is a prize at the end of the journey.”

Isn’t it amazing what a few small words can do for you? How they can bring encouragement even when you didn’t realize you needed it.

Every day is special. When we wake in the morning, our day is like a rolled up scroll. We do not know what that scroll says, or what will happen as it unfolds. What we do know is that Jesus is there to walk with us, and that somewhere in hum drum, in the routine, is a gift that He has placed in our path. A gift that will encourage us, remind us of His love for us, and give us the strength to keep moving forward in this crazy thing called life.

Update

Hello world!

I have not as you might have suspected contracted some horribly, incurable disease, died, or given up on the whole idea of keeping a blog. I have simply been otherwise occupied. Between writer's block and meeting the demands of my increasingly busy life...well, I'm afraid the Adventures of Rachel was put on hold. Another contributing factor to the recent lack of new posts is that I am having a slight internet connection problem (i.e, I didn't pay the Insight bill). So, I've said all this to say...Please don't stop checking the blog for new posts! Things have once again slowed down in my daily life, and I also plan to have my internet reconnected by the end of this week. Don't give up on me yet, World!