The Glad Game 2

Being the loser that I am, I was looking at a few titles of blogs from the past. I came across "6 Happy Things--The Glad Game" and decided I would again like to list 6 things for the glad game. They aren't necessarily things that make me "happy" or "glad." Mostly, they are comforting and alleviating. They produce good feelings--sometimes they even make me happy. ;)

1. Food. I'm an emotional eater. Food maybe shouldn't be on this list, since it often makes me upset when I consider how much I eat, what I eat, and how little I exercise. But, I enjoy it. I've been on a pizza binge lately and I don't think I'm done. I've also boiled a lot of eggs. Interestingly enough, when I posted the first Glad Game blog on Nov. 6, 2007, my number was making hard-boiled eggs for the first time.

2. The Bible. For a season, I was a fine reader and studier of the Bible, in my own estimation at least. I could have been better, sure, but I did alright. Then I somehow got out of the habit. I've been reading more, but not well. The past few days, I've done a much better job. It isn't always easy--neither is the text and the reflection it brings--but it is good.

3. Reflection. This happy thought is another bitter sweet aspect of my life. Sometimes introspection is really hard. Sometimes it makes one sad, angry, guilty, anxious, or some slew of dark emotions. Sometimes it evokes lighter emotions. Either way, I am glad I do it as much as I do it. A friend recently told me he hates it when people tell him he thinks too much. Probably, he told me, other people don't think enough. I have to agree with him. Thinking is a good thing.

4. Writing. At the end of Joan Didion's essay, "The White Album," she says writing hadn't helped her handle or understand life. The statement seemed odd, since she wrote it and since she is an author and since her topic is so reflective. The process did something, because she attempted it and published it. Maybe she means writing didn't make it all clear and writing didn't make it all better. I can't help but agree, because, often, writing makes things hard because it is so reflective. But it can be so cathartic.

5. Forts & Physical Closeness.

6. I think I could lift the whole paragraph from the last number six of " The Glad Game" for this glad game number six. It is, perhaps, the most important. It is the place in which I see, hear, and feel God the most. I am so glad I can talk and be talked to; open up and be opened up to; comfort and be comforted. I still ask the questions I asked in the first number 6, but today I have more confidence in the answer. If you visit that old blog, you'll notice I have a comment and two kudos, although they have been removed from the blog (not by me). I remember what the comment said--it might as well have been straight from God. It was very short, perhaps one sentence with neither adjectives nor adverbs. It still encourages me today. In fact, it is extra encouraging with some new thoughts I'm having on faith and faith-words. I save the best for last in the glad game.

Will you play the glad game?

The Glad Game

Stephanie Dare Smith told me I had to post six things that have made me happy recently, so here they are!

1. Preparing and eating hard-boiled eggs. A new comfort food for me, maybe! I have never boiled eggs before and did 5 yesterday. Each of them tasted good ... although I really should convince myself to discard of the yokes.

2. Futurama & The Simpson's Halloween special. Gotta love satirical, (young) adult cartoons!

3. Music: Death Cab for Cutie's song, "I Will Follow You into the Dark," Rufus Wainwright's "Hallelujah," and Coldplay's "Kingdom Come." These songs are some of my favorite song through which to express praise of God. I am currently trying an ecocritical stance with the Death Cab song. Maybe "ecocritical" isn't the right term--ecophilic? biophilic? When the speaker of the song says, "Love of mine," I wonder if that love could be nature.

4. Process theology and philosophy. Here I must include the rich encouragement I received from opening up the world of process thought to my peers. Also, Dr. Goodman's smiley faces when he grades me! In response to my presentation he began, "What can I say? In the first 5 minutes of your presentation you dropped a reference to Kansas' 'Dust in the Wind.' This evaluation could end right here and I think you'd get the point. :)" Oh, Dr. Goodman.

5. Ideas and quotes from the past written indelibly upon my mind and heart--and knowing that things I read and hear now will become part of my thoughts. For example, John Bunyan's image of Christian having to retrace his steps and walk a path thrice, when he should have only walked it once. St. Augustine's "Egyptian Gold." Futurama season 3, episode 3, "Godfellas." The Beatles, Joan Didion's The White Album, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Alexander Pope's Essay on Man, specifically the lines, "Of God above or Man below, / what can we reason but from what we know?" (I am just guessing at the line break and punctuation).

6. This one has also been a source of anguish: friends & prayer. I am elated that I can pray for my friends. Hell, I'm elated that I can pray these days! But, prayer so often is not a happy experience in and of itself. I pray and pray and pray and hope my prayers make a difference in other people, but I simply do not know if they do. I also pray that God will show some way that I can make a difference in the lives of my friends--especially of late, with so many of my friends making such marvelous differences in my life. But alas, I come up void. When I do think of something that I might be able to say or do, I either shirk any opportunity to do so or I fail to see the opportunity arise. Part of my problem also arises from fear and doubt. I wonder, Is this from God? Will this really be encouraging? Will I just come off more socially awkward than this friend already perceives?

What has made you happy of late?