Well, it was back to work on Thursday and even yesterday, my supposed day off, I worked over the Forthright Magazine site. Here's something today to warm your innards.

Good Morning

Outside my bedroom window, trees
   wave greeting as I rise;
Their quivering fingers play the breeze
   and bring today's surprise.

Yesterday was Brazil's equivalent to Labor Day, Dia do trabalhador, national holiday when most people are off. As it also happens to be wife Vicki's birthday, we threw a surprise churrasco, or barbeque, for her. Some 35 people in all for the whole afternoon. The stragglers left about 7 p.m.

The kids played on the soccer field and playground in our closed community. The adults hovered near the grill and swilled soft drinks between sentences.

I took a few pictures and hope to get them posted somewhere on the web soon. (Lots of old pics here.)

We took a plate to each of the two guards at the entrances to the community. Tadeu, at the main entrance, had not been able to take his lunch, so he was salivating even before I left. Was a real labor day for him, but not much fun, so the food brightened up his day a bit.

Makes one feel good when a good deed turns out to be just what the person needed.

I have elsewhere registered my objections, but another expression brings back the questions. If it were one or another, spaced far between, I would have few qualms. What am I talking about?

The idea that what matters most is not the destination of your journey, but the journey itself. The stop-and-smell-the-roses syndrome. The idea that what's important is that you enjoy the ride and not worry so much about getting there.

Friend Mary has a wonderful couplet she posted on a poetry forum:

The joy inherent in a playground slide
is not the destination, it's the ride!

It's all true, too. But how far may we apply this to life? Are we trying to get somewhere with all of this?

From a Christian perspective, the goal is eternal life. While that life starts now and marks the joy and enjoyment in the present, the issue is that I will do anything or surrender anything to have eternal life.

Life is more than a playground. It is our training ground, to prepare us for something greater. And I don't want to miss it.

My Random wisdom for Monday: If you put your mind to it, you will find so much good to see and do in the world, that evil will pale in the background. If you put your mind to it.

Random wisdom for Sunday:

They say that idleness is the devil's workshop, but by busyness he also distracts one's attention away from the Creator.