Observation

The observation itself will come later. Just a seed of something I'd like to expound upon at another time. When I'm not describing my day-to-day life, I've found that this blog is more of a place (one of many) where I mark down ideas.

But now - the day-to-day. I found out yesterday that a church roughly 10 minutes from my house does perpetual adoration. This brought me no end of excitement and anticipation.

I spent 7 hours at my church yesterday doing all sort of awesome things. This volunteer opportunity with the youth at my church is already more rewarding than I anticipated. And I haven't even gotten to know many of the teens yet (though I'm sure that is coming :) ). So anyway, while I was there yesterday - I packed up and moved boxes, I replaced fluorescent lights, I removed wall floor molding, I pulled nails out of a concrete wall, filled the resulting holes with pump-able concrete, moved and played tetris with lots of big and heavy furniture, put together a very tall and very heavy table, emptied a storage closet of its contents, and removed shelving from the walls in said closet. It was fun. Which might seem weird to some - but I don't mind manual labor when it isn't repetitive.

Tonight, on a night when the youth group actually meets regularly, I stood in a room with about 100 tenth graders. I was every-so-slightly overwhelmed. They are candidates for Confirmation - a Catholic sacrament that essentially marks a person's entrance into spiritual adulthood (but don't quote me on that). It's a pretty big deal.

Tomorrow, I intend to do more manual labor. Sure, I'd still like a job - but having something to keep me busy is nice, too.


Now, for that observation. I have discovered, both through my own experiences and careful observation, that the vast majority of human beings have trouble with rites of passage. Whether this is due to apathy, fear, a lack of perseverance, or some other factor is different for different people. I have more to say on this sometime - describing my own struggles, for example.

For now, though, I am off (both in the head, and away from the internet). I think tomorrow I shall have a delicious lunch, go to adoration for a while, then head over to church to paint and do other fun things. Hooray!