Half-Time . . . *Smile* -- First Published in News June 6, 2005

All of a sudden it's the middle of June and my time here is about half over, too.  We ended the first session of classes this week and next week some of us will head up the road a piece to a resort in the mountains for a conference.  I will have the joy of doing the children's program for the kids there.  And I'm looking forward to seeing the friend I met in Philly who has been at another city here.

As I mentioned earlier, it's gotten hot, but the nights are cool and sometimes there is cloud cover in the early morning.  However the morning light begins about 5:30 or so -- and the clouds are often burned off or blown away by the winds before 9.  So people have a way of walking places keeping to as much shade as they can find.  It kind of reminds me of that old POSH -- which stands for "port out -- starboard home"  where the best, most shaded cabins were on ocean voyages across the Atlantic in that earlier and more genteel era.  Around here we walk on the shady side of the buildings or in the middle of two lines of trees.  Only "mad dogs and Englishmen" stay in the sunny places, and I have just been getting the hang of it out of necessity.

Twice a week I walk to some friends' apartment to tutor English, and I found the fastest way there when it was cooler.  Now I amend that track a bit to stay in the shade.  Because of spaces between building and streets to cross I will still end up with a tan on my face, arms and legs, but all together it is easier to make it through the day if I go slow in the shade and pick up the pace in the sunny places.  Actually people around here don't really rush, but keep a steady pace . . . a bit more than a stroll unless they have ea stroller, and not too fast so as to conserve energy.

I have never minded walking, though I used to choose to do it rather than need to, except when I haven't had a car at my disposal.  When I first came to DC after the nervous breakdown I road buses and metro and walked everywhere -- and it was a great way to get to know the city.  But nowadays it is just easier all together.  As hard as it is to cross the street in traffic, I think my nerves would be more adversely affected by trying to drive here.  But I have been brave enough to do a lot of things, so if I really needed a car here, I would be glad to try it out. 

A friend in Moscow brought her car over with her and I can just imagine her wheeling around town.  But she's been overseas for over twenty years on her own -- in even wilder places, so she learned to be braver and has practiced it more.  I admire her so much and since she was a Peace Corps Volunteer and then worked as the Peace Corps Country Director in Armenia, among other jobs in development work.  She's like a big sister, besides, and I'm hoping to see her on the way home, God willing.

And I was thinking about that being brave idea and how many times we read, "Don't be afraid." and "Fear not." in the Bible.  Jesus commands, "Let not your hearts be troubled and neither let them be afraid," but I've always had a hard time with those commands.  Worry and fear seem to come naturally to human beings, and it does take telling your heart "not to be troubled or be afraid."  But so often my heart doesn't listen very well.  And then again I used to think that nothing would come out right unless I worried.  Imagine that!  Talk about a control issue!!  *smile*

So it comes down to trust.  And really you can't trust unless you know someone is faithful.  Except as children, of course.  Little children naturally trust which sometimes leaves them open to being hurt, unfortunately.  But that reminds me that it is really more natural for us to trust -- and we have to learn not to by being betrayed.  And THAT reminds me of that song form "South Pacific" -- "You've Got to be Taught" -- to hate and fear . . . but love and trust come naturally.  Isn't that interesting?  That in turn reminds me of how we used to feel about each other between the East and the West during the Cold War.

It's such a relief to be friends now, though some people may still be holding grudges.  And there are always those suspicious sorts who can't easily forgive and move on.  If we could only sit down and have a meal together -- or meals.  You can come to my place first and then if you want me to, I'll come to yours.  That sort of thing.  We could learn about each other's customs and concerns.  I know it would make a difference, and thankfully there is a lot of that going on lots of places.  It's the places where it isn't going on that are the problems.

The other day I was walking to the bus and noticed some people cutting the lawn.  But not the way you are thinking about it.  They each had scythes and were bending over chopping at various weeds and things.  I actually haven't seen a lawn mower of the gas kind since I've been here.  Everything's relative.  It must not seem strange to most people here, because they are used to the folks with the scythes.  There are many ways to live that are "normal" and it is only by comparison that they seem not to be.

My heart was made glad crossing another lawn after I got off the bus to see that some morning glories had escaped the scythe.  I have been across that lawn in the evening and never seen them.  God has surprises for us everywhere if we are only looking at the right time.  *smile*  As I was waiting for another bus on Sunday morning, I happened to see a cat on the ledge of a balcony window.  It looked like a Siamese, and as I watched, it reached up it's paws high on the window frame and fully stretched it's back into the kind of beautiful arch only cats can make. 

And it was on the third floor or fourth floor -- so I almost winced thinking the cat had over extended itself and might fall out of the balcony.  But it didn't -- so how ever many of its nine lives it still had remain.  And it was a joy to watch it because it was on the sunny side of the building and you know how cats are when they want to sit in the sun.  I'm going to try to remember to look for it again, though I probably won't see it in the evenings when I am usually at the bus stop.  At that time of day that building is in the shade.

Back to that sunshine and shade thing . . . it reminds me of the idea that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.  Sometimes when I need the shade to stay cool I am glad of that.  But all together isn't it good that it is the light that triumphs? 

I hope you are having a good week and that you and yours have a blessed weekend.  Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there -- especially mine!  *Smile*  And my son  . . . and to those who will be, but aren't yet.