a slight musing on various themes

A delightful musing, on a completely unrelated note.

Books, music, poetry, flowers, love; My thoughts have been fixed on such things in the past few days. I have been in Kampala for a week and a half. I was, until yesterday, fixed on the renewing of my Visa. Now that the task has been fulfilled, I have a few days of leisure before returning to Kapchorwa for the second half of my adventure here. It's strange that one of the first actions that I took on arrival to Kampala, two weeks ago this thursday, was to go to a bookshop. It was on friday. I was dropped off at shop-rite, one of the few "supermarkets" in Uganda. I walked for perhaps three kilometers to get into the center of town to a bookshop "Aristoc." I proceeded to buy some books. They have a very small selection, but, fortunately, they have the "classics." I purchased a few books for a discount price of around three dollars a book. then, i went to another bookshop and procured a long sought-after book "St. Francis of Assisi" which i could not recommend more highly. But, I digress, Books. one of the first instinctive actions, upon the ability to procure such things, was to buy books. And what books i did buy. bram stoker- dracula, dostoyevsky- crime and punishment... etc. chauncer, milton and a lovely book on 18th century poetry.

I read, within today, just, crime and punishment. all i can say is "wow." that is a powerful book. I can't believe i read it all in one day, a day devoted to reading, and in the end if it, i am left free to muse about what I have read. 

books

I went to a charity concert the first saturday here. It was great. one piano, one person who entertained us for an evening, there was also a gospel chorus. The pianist played Liszt, Chopin, and a number of others, from memory! he was incredible. He has been studying at the royal school of music in London for years and is just preparing to graduate. I had the distinct pleasure to speak to him at length after the concert. There is something, as i muse for the umpteenth time, in music. (whilst at the moment, i listen to switchfoot) It is not that it pacifies, or that it entertains, or relaxes, or constricts, or aggrevates, although it has all of these abilities, but it is the fact that it, when properly done, has a profound affect on the spirit. imagine, for a moment, good music. now, i'm not talking about the latest "trend" music, but really, truly, fine music. Music that you can listen to over and over again, without growing weary of it. i know of some, sometimes it is classical, romantic era music, but other times it can be contemporary. For example, right now i'm listening to an album, which, by conservative estimations, i've perhaps listened to more than two hundred times. I'm not joking. But, have i grown tired of it, in the four years that i have had the album? by no means, I find that it gets better with time. It has ministered to me in so many different times of my life. There is something about truly good music that goes deeper than the ear, further than the brain. Something within us is revealed. It's like, without this music, without the song "twenty-four," there would be a part of my life that I didn't truly understand. Because of this music, this song, I know myself better, i can come to a true understanding of who i am. Does this resonate with anyone else, or am I the only one who feels this way about music?

music.

I've been reading poetry and i find that when i read some poetry, it is like looking at a beautiful picture or landscape. Poetry is great. Reading poetry gives one a better understanding when reading the psalms.... check it out.

poetry

in the past week, i've run into flowers often, for the first in a long time. at a restaurant, i found a fresh lily on my table. it smelled simply intoxicating. it was beautiful. White, peppered with yellow pollen, and opening up to the world. Flowers are splendid, and testify to a creator God who simply loves his creation(including Us!!)

flowers.

I've decided not to discuss this last one. I have found God's love too amazing for words. I can't discuss nor describe, at the moment, because words are so empty in comparison to His Love. The Love of God is often a point of contemplation for me, but I could think about it for the next sixty years and not come to a firm conclusion. It is simply too amazing to be simplified into words. Even the most eloquent poetry seems base and vulgur in comparison to it.

God loves.