This Side Up

A brief thought occurred to me (Rob) while studying for my Hebrew class:
In some languages, you can tell how much progress you've made by how long it takes you to realize that you are holding the flashcards upside down...

Pardon My Introspection...

I just finished my first 2 days of seminary classes.  I feel...predictably let down.

Don't get me wrong.  I actually enjoyed the classes, and it's been great reconnecting with old friends, making new friends, etc.  What you need to understand is that I've been looking forward to this day for about 14 years, and seldom do things live up to that kind of anticipation.  I knew I was going to feel this way.

A quote from Kierkegaard that has stuck with me for years is: "Pleasure disappoints, possibility never.  And what wine is so foaming, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!"  What he is saying is that when things are still in the future, still just in the realm of the possible, then we imagine them to be maximally satisfying.  Once we experience them, even though they are pleasant, they inevitably fail to match the joy we imagined.

So I had some great classes- thoroughly enjoyable.  I'm glad I'm here, I'm thankful to be here, and I am genuinely looking forward to my studies themselves, not just as a means to an end.  But at the end of the day I felt like saying "was that it?"  It's a human tendency to put unreasonable expectations on the people and events and experiences of our life- expectations we borrow from an imagined reality.  Expectations fueled by movies and books and other narratives that describe only the Possible, not the Actual.  And so our marriages, our jobs, our friendships, our lives feel so common when measured against the Possible.  We feel let down or even disappointed because they're not as amazing or as perfect as we imagine they could be.  

Imagination is a great gift, but it is also our greatest liability.  And it is the greatest enemy to our contentment.  And without contentment there is no happiness.

So today I think about the promise that there is a Day coming that cannot possibly disappoint.  A Day that is not worth comparing to anything in our present experience.  A Day that far exceeds all that we could ever ask or imagine.

Rob's Update

Some of you know that I'm in a different city this week, taking a class. Unfortunately, the prof got sick and spent Monday night (warning: gross phrase ahead) puking up his guts. So we watched videos of the class material Tuesday, then had half a day off. It's Wednesday afternoon, and we're watching videos again. Normally, two days off isn't a big deal, but when they cram a 4 credit Master's program class into 5 full days of lecture, missing 2 days is like missing...a month. I'm hoping this won't affect our ability to get credit!

Meanwhile, April is back in our apartment and has her own classes this week. Email her and try to get her blogging! Let's get an April update!!!

Funny things I saw yesterday and wish I had a camera for:
-East Asian security guards- in cowboy hats
-a sign at the front of a bus saying "No chat with driver"
-a giant sign saying in English "ent hospital". Until I saw the East Asian translation, which was "Ear Nose Throat Hospital", I was on the lookout for giant walking trees.