White Wine and Goldfish

I shared a pretty cool moment with some amazing people just a few hours ago. To preface the situation, I should mention that, yesterday, I picked up the keys to my new apartment. Cliff and I spent some of last evening moving half of my life over there, which really was quite an enjoyable experience. Four whole years of my life are in boxes and I am impressed by their magnitude. It has been and will continue to be a process of moving out and moving in, though; my residential life here on campus has been complete with every necessary piece of furniture, and well, that just isn't the case any longer. So, there's that and also the safety that seems to exist in still living at 1507. I have to be a grown up in T3 - responsible for rent, utilities, work, and a master's degree, among other things.

But there are also incredible blessings awaiting me in this move that I am just so grateful for, even now. My new roommate came into town today to move her stuff in; Cliff and I pulled a repeat of yesterday's activities and showed up to the apartment to help her and her parents. Well, after unloading the van and the car of all the boxed goods and clothes on hangers, we took a moment to rest before we brought in the furniture load from the moving truck. As we talked about cable and internet and other sorts of new-apartment types of things, Lauren's mom was bustling about in the kitchen. After a short amount of time, she came out to join us on the floor with a bottle of white wine, a bowl of goldfish crackers, and five huge wine glasses. We made a toast to "new phases, next stages, spiritual journeys, and safety," and I could not have been more satisfied with how things have turned out than I was in that very moment.

For awhile, we sat and shared a bit about where we are at, what we are doing, and what we hope for; and by we, I of course mean Cliff, Lauren, and myself because her parents were the ones full of questions. They were great kind of questions that make you feel like whatever your answer is, the simple act of discovery is all that other person is looking for. And to share those moments with Cliff there with us was an unspeakable gift. The whole thing was just... perfect. I really do not know how to explain why I value it so much, but I think the essence lies in the symbolism of that moment. What the symbolism is, I am not even sure, but I am reminded of Christ's call to communion. There Lauren and I sat, not quite strangers but not close friends, on the floor of our new apartment, in the company of some of our dearest loved ones who, with us, drank wine and ate bread. Granted, a fruity bottle of white wine and a bag of orange fish-shaped crackers probably aren't your ideal image of Christ's blood and body - but it was enough.

And it confirms, in me, the truth that God has orchestrated all of this and that it is a pleasure for Him. And for me, it is an enjoyable thing to know the blessings of God and to share in them with other people - people you barely know and already love. We remember what sacrifice Christ made to save us, but do we truly understand that by that He means to make our lives full in our relationships to each other through Him? God not only restored our fellowship with Him through Jesus' death, He restored our relationships to each other. I think if I lived with a constant acknowledgement of this, life would be... much more grand.