Things I Love

What do you love?  That was the icebreaker question we settled on for the first night of a bible study I co-led in my junior year at Penn.  We made it a tradition, because it turns out to be a fast and a joyful way to get  to know someone at an intimate level. The answers often go to the heart of who a person is, what they hope for, and what they see as good in life. One young woman who frequently gave answers related to babies is now expecting her second. My answers often went to music or nature. When serially asked of you, without allowing precisely repeated answers or mere likes, the question forces you to search your heart and brings a fresh appreciation for every fine and beautiful thing. I might make a habit of putting up small posts here about things I love. Several of them may cross over with things that float.

I love the beauty of the sky, and the way lighting at different times of day can transform the earth. The golden time before sunset and the blue time just after it are among my favorites. They give me an inexplicable feeling of warmth and contentedness. They make everything feel right in the world. I thank God for the beauty of the earth and sky. Lately I've noticed the way the sky around sunsets fades from light blue into platinum just above the horizon on a cloudless summer evening. What a serene color!  It seems a tender, rarified thing, so that I hesitate to look at it for fear it will sooner fade to black. Yet I sometimes have the opportunity to revel in it for half an hour or more as I make my long evening drive to or from the lake. That's what I love today.  I'm not enough of a photographer to capture it on film, so you'll just have to watch for yourself. Or imagine it over the grand canyon.

It has seen many sunsets.

Let me ask you now:  What do you love?