sail on silver girl...

I saw these children today on the train to work. It was so refreshing. Each with their little white hat and backpack. All 50 of them trying to keep their balance as the train made its way to Kita Senri. A few trying to catch a glimpse of the only foreigner in the train car. It was these children that made an impression on me today...

Today, as I put my new music in my ears, and new shoes on my feet, I was reminded that I am not the same me. As much as I feel like I have become comfortable with this country, there are always daily surprises, which has given me an ever present anticipation. I am being stretched, pulled, pushed, turned, held back, humbled, exposed, and moved. Just when I think that I have become a stronger person - more confident, more capable - I am reminded that my companionship with God is what gives me this strength. Somedays, I have felt my confidence has never been so high before. Then, and perhaps most importantly, when I begin to attribute this to myself, I trip. Quite literally actually. And I am reminded of my dependance on His character and not my own.

My theory is that when you travel, there is some sort of secret that is revealed to you. Some sort of wisdom or knowledge that touches your world and leaves its finger print. I don't know about any wisdom I have, but something has left its finger print in my life that will not be washed away. A beautiful finger print. I don't even know what it looks like exactly. I think somedays that my heart is trying to catch up with my head. I know the finger print is there. I catch glimpses of it sometimes: in the children on the subway, in the red of a torii gate, something in my student's faces, in the freshness of spring, in the hospitality extended to me by the Japanese, and the kindness of strangers in a train station. For me, the secrets of this country are profound, and yet so simple and even practical maybe. Maybe I will never even know how to articulate them or even make sense of them in my own heart.

I guess I will just continue to wake up in the morning, walk to the train station, and somehow collect myslef, and continually look for fingers prints along the way...