Long Live Life

I am loving life right now. I'll attribute some of it to the fact that I am done with the major Urban Term assignments. What a breath of relief!

Tonight, my family went to my grandparents' house because my cousins and uncle from Hawaii are staying there for a week. They visit us each year, and I'm glad to have seen them tonight. We're planning on seeing each other during this week before I head back to school on Saturday.

I brought a book with me that I intended to read during the car ride to my grandparents' house. It's called Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright, a theologian. My dad brought the book home from the library. It's about the implications of belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. I left it on the floor of my grandparents' house, and before we left, Ojiichan (my grandpa) was reading it. Neither he nor Obaachan are Christians, and when he handed the book to me, he said something like, "There's a lot of high thinking in this book." I told him, "Yeah. I just started reading it."

I hope he believes in Jesus. I hope he finds hope in the life that Jesus brings.

I think the main reason I am loving life is because of this idea that I've been hearing and reading about, the idea that God loves life; not just our souls, but our bodies, the works of our hands, the food we eat, the moonlight lying sideways on my bed, our gathering together. I've often felt like maybe God doesn't love these things because they are physical, and for some reason, sometimes I associate fleshly things with sin. But the fact that God became a human in Jesus, that God had skin on his arms and color in his eyes and pitch to his voice, suggests that perhaps God loves the life we live, the goodness of life, the goodness of creation. And while sin came to steal life from us, cursing us with death, Jesus triumphs over death. He is the resurrection and the life!

So if it's true that God loves life--the same righteous things we love, like hanging out, throwing a frisbee, listening to music, reading good, old books, writing, language, grilling cheese sandwiches, slicing apples, if these things can be considered righteous or, at least, good--then that gives me the freedom to love life. If it's true, then maybe I am loving life right, now.