Your comment about bittersweet emotions — I've felt this so many times myself, and have never been able to describe it as well as you just did! I think one of the things that I do love about that emotion is also that, as you mentioned with C.S. Lewis, it reminds us that the best isn't yet, and we'll always be a bit homesick. Then when I feel melancholy creeping in to a beautiful moment (or for normal people, a typical one), it also helps me remember that nothing this side of heaven will ever scratch the itch completely. I've found it a bit freeing. There's almost a bit of fatalism — whatever I do, it won't — it CAN'T be perfect now... so I can enjoy it as God gives it. That helps me enjoy both the moment and what it points to a bit more, simultaneously. It's like if the book of Ecclesiastes were an emotion itself.
Ecclesiastes is such a helpful book for learning to enjoy beauty without holding onto anything in particular too tightly. I spent a couple of months last year working through it slowly for my devotions and it’s just so good.
"...my emotions are pulled once again into this distant daydream of longing and desire, but in reality, it’s just that the sun came out and I ate a croissant." —one of the most relatable sentences I've read, haha.
OK this is pretty random but you reminded me of this speech that Roger Federer gave (at some college commencement) where he said:
“When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world.
But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you... This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point… and the next one after that… with intensity, clarity and focus.”
And now I’m thinking maybe the same applies to croissants? Like maybe when you’re eating a croissant you should enjoy it like it’s the only baked good in existence and this moment is all that matters, but once it’s behind/inside you, you need to be content to leave it in the past and remember that there’ll be more croissants to come.
I need a shirt that says “there will be more croissants” 😂😭
From a fellow deep thinker and bread enthusiast, thank you! I think sometimes the existential moments can also be God’s way of helping us to create little memorial stones — little day to day things that remind us of that lesson we learned that one time, you know?
¡Here from Latin America, another highly sensitive person who identifies with your words! I recommend reading the book "The Highly Sensitive Person" by Elaine N. Aron. It helped me a lot to identify what I was going through. My hope is that more highly sensitive people can, with God's help, see their sensitivity as something positive and as a gift that helps them create beautiful things. To live this depth with balance :)
I feel the same way when I look down from the top of a hill at the scenery or at beautiful art. I feel so strongly the distance between myself and the beauty. That I cannot truly be a part of the beauty. I am only a transcient observer. I feel the same way when I look at the setting sun or a beautiful sky. I guess I have come to accept the melancholy as part of the way I observe and make sense of things.
It's so nice to read such Captivating words, it's like I'm enjoying reading a favourite book and flicking through its soft yellow pages, while enjoying a delicious cup of coffee. ☺️
Your words are inspiring; they make me reflect on how we should value simple things more, enjoy today, appreciate the happiness we feel in each moment—live in the now. I always think of some quotes that I love, and have added value to my life and taught me things, from a Wim Wenders movie:
1- “Kondo wa kondo. Ima wa ima”(“Next time is next time. Now is now") — Hirayama
This quote emphasizes a philosophy of finding joy in simple and ordinary things, in our routine and in nature, accepting change, appreciating the immediate moment, being present, being sensitive to perceive things happening around us.
—Life isn't easy, but we can find beauty and joy even amidst the chaos—true happiness comes from God. And we can open our eyes and see God present in every detail.
2 - "The world is made up of many worlds. Some are connected and some are not" —Hirayama’s (Kōji Yakusho)
We live in different realities based on our culture, perceptions, values, and routines. People can share the same physical space and live in their own subjective realities; perhaps they will connect, or perhaps they won't.
I’m learning the secret to happiness lies in communion with God.
When I think of Jesus creating everything before hand and then I think of all the subatomic particles clapping like waves, pushing out His plans in all their symphonic pathways, as us as well, I see our free choice in how we choose to experience and process our sensory and super natural connection to God's plans (geometry and how Jesus speaks, inside and out, to me i trust how it plays off each other, like the geometry of people passing by and raindrops falling, all his com union communicating the recognition of relationships, as Holy Spirit drops The Word)
Your comment about bittersweet emotions — I've felt this so many times myself, and have never been able to describe it as well as you just did! I think one of the things that I do love about that emotion is also that, as you mentioned with C.S. Lewis, it reminds us that the best isn't yet, and we'll always be a bit homesick. Then when I feel melancholy creeping in to a beautiful moment (or for normal people, a typical one), it also helps me remember that nothing this side of heaven will ever scratch the itch completely. I've found it a bit freeing. There's almost a bit of fatalism — whatever I do, it won't — it CAN'T be perfect now... so I can enjoy it as God gives it. That helps me enjoy both the moment and what it points to a bit more, simultaneously. It's like if the book of Ecclesiastes were an emotion itself.
Ecclesiastes is such a helpful book for learning to enjoy beauty without holding onto anything in particular too tightly. I spent a couple of months last year working through it slowly for my devotions and it’s just so good.
Any post that includes quotes from both Ms. Congeniality and The Weight of Glory is destined to be great. 😊
Seriously though, I appreciate your sharing. It helps give me language for some of my own experiences and feelings.
I think now I’ll go buy cut flowers for my apartment, partly for their beauty and partly for the exercise in appreciating something that’s temporary.
PS - I’m about to check out your Beatnik coffee shop recommendation in Edinburgh. And now I’ll be ordering a croissant as well… 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
"...my emotions are pulled once again into this distant daydream of longing and desire, but in reality, it’s just that the sun came out and I ate a croissant." —one of the most relatable sentences I've read, haha.
Hahaha, sometimes a little distance from the moment puts things into perspective
OK this is pretty random but you reminded me of this speech that Roger Federer gave (at some college commencement) where he said:
“When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world.
But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you... This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point… and the next one after that… with intensity, clarity and focus.”
And now I’m thinking maybe the same applies to croissants? Like maybe when you’re eating a croissant you should enjoy it like it’s the only baked good in existence and this moment is all that matters, but once it’s behind/inside you, you need to be content to leave it in the past and remember that there’ll be more croissants to come.
Or something like that.
I don't want to seem out of touch, I mean well... John Lennox has beautiful messages about suffering, including at Harvard. God bless you all.
I need a shirt that says “there will be more croissants” 😂😭
From a fellow deep thinker and bread enthusiast, thank you! I think sometimes the existential moments can also be God’s way of helping us to create little memorial stones — little day to day things that remind us of that lesson we learned that one time, you know?
There’s a Welsh word too for that longing for what was an ideal of a perfect time - hiraeth
¡Here from Latin America, another highly sensitive person who identifies with your words! I recommend reading the book "The Highly Sensitive Person" by Elaine N. Aron. It helped me a lot to identify what I was going through. My hope is that more highly sensitive people can, with God's help, see their sensitivity as something positive and as a gift that helps them create beautiful things. To live this depth with balance :)
✨
just out here summarising how we all feel in England this spring
Yeah basically 😆
I feel the same way when I look down from the top of a hill at the scenery or at beautiful art. I feel so strongly the distance between myself and the beauty. That I cannot truly be a part of the beauty. I am only a transcient observer. I feel the same way when I look at the setting sun or a beautiful sky. I guess I have come to accept the melancholy as part of the way I observe and make sense of things.
Hi! Your writing is so good, I appreciate it.
It's so nice to read such Captivating words, it's like I'm enjoying reading a favourite book and flicking through its soft yellow pages, while enjoying a delicious cup of coffee. ☺️
Your words are inspiring; they make me reflect on how we should value simple things more, enjoy today, appreciate the happiness we feel in each moment—live in the now. I always think of some quotes that I love, and have added value to my life and taught me things, from a Wim Wenders movie:
1- “Kondo wa kondo. Ima wa ima”(“Next time is next time. Now is now") — Hirayama
This quote emphasizes a philosophy of finding joy in simple and ordinary things, in our routine and in nature, accepting change, appreciating the immediate moment, being present, being sensitive to perceive things happening around us.
—Life isn't easy, but we can find beauty and joy even amidst the chaos—true happiness comes from God. And we can open our eyes and see God present in every detail.
2 - "The world is made up of many worlds. Some are connected and some are not" —Hirayama’s (Kōji Yakusho)
We live in different realities based on our culture, perceptions, values, and routines. People can share the same physical space and live in their own subjective realities; perhaps they will connect, or perhaps they won't.
I’m learning the secret to happiness lies in communion with God.
Thank you for sharing
Oh I definitely do this, too
When I think of Jesus creating everything before hand and then I think of all the subatomic particles clapping like waves, pushing out His plans in all their symphonic pathways, as us as well, I see our free choice in how we choose to experience and process our sensory and super natural connection to God's plans (geometry and how Jesus speaks, inside and out, to me i trust how it plays off each other, like the geometry of people passing by and raindrops falling, all his com union communicating the recognition of relationships, as Holy Spirit drops The Word)
Jonathan! This article is so good…so good. Same man. Same.
This is definitely something I need to hear right now, thank you.