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| My Goal |
This morning I went out walking before most of the world was awake. (This is not hard in Korea where most of the world seems to emerge between 9 and 10am.) I explored some new streets, got lost, determined yet again that my sense of direction is completely absent and then studied the map and now I have a much better picture of my area in my head.
One thing that I love about my city is that it is essentially rural, there is a mountain (large hill for NZ'ers) between me a Seoul and I have a goal to climb to the top of that mountain before I leave this place. Tomorrow I shall start exploring the foothills. (NZ'ers: small rises in the ground) between the hill and my house. Today however I went in the opposite direction and figured out how to get from my apartment to the train station by foot. No longer will I be tied to the very unreliable bus service.
On my walk I found a park with some walking tracks and a large number of what appear to be blackberry or possibly raspberry bushes in full flower. I am planning to keep a regular eye on them and then when the berries are ripe I will partake in the fine Korean tradition of urban foraging. I regularly see people here scrounging through the grass plucking up green delicacies to take home and include in some meal or other. In one instance the grass they were foraging in was those square tiles of grassy earth that I had watched being laid down around some buildings only the day before.
Another time I saw two old people trying to reach the berries in one of the Ginkgo trees that lined the road where I was living at the time. They both appeared to be around 80 years old, maybe ninety. They both walked with walking sticks. When it became obvious that they were not going to reach the berries, even by waving their sticks at them they looked for another solution. Then I saw the old lady climb to the second highest rung of the fence that separated the footpath from the 6 lane highway full of speeding cars wizzing by maybe two feet away, she then proceeded to more successfully wave her stick around the branches of the tree, raining berries down on her intrepid partner who was propping her up on the fence by firmly gripping her knees. Dementia? desperation? or doomed love? (I say doomed because if they keep climbing fences next to busy six lane highways ... well, it could be very not pretty.)
I also found a lovely little pergola which given the time of the morning and the fact that this is Korea was deserted. Am thinking it would make a very nice 'quiet time' spot for my morning devotions. Somehow being able to get out of my room and away from the distractions of life makes it easier to connect.
Change of topic:
This morning as a result of an interesting conversation I had yesterday - which I will elaborate more on later - I started rereading the book of Esther. I didn't get very far. I started thinking about the King. I've always thought he was a bit of a chauvinist. Ordering his wife (Vashti) to come and 'display her beauty' in front of all of his drunk buddies. But I started thinking about this, now correct me if I'm wrong, but men want to be proud of their wives right? They want the other men to be just a little envious of them. Hence all those men in midlife crises's who dump their wives and go marry someone younger. Not saying that is a good thing, because it's not. But just saying that I am thinking it is a natural desire of a man to want to feel proud of his wife, that her condition reflects on him and if it is a good condition then he looks good, and if it is a bad condition then he looks bad. Alsorts of implications there - like if a man wants to look good then he should take care of his wife, and if she is not happy he better find out why, and fix it ... etc, etc, etc. Also a man should be sure of the value of what he considers something to be proud of, physical beauty, brains, kindness, a good character, etc some of these things are worth more than others...
Anyway, I was reading Esther and thinking about the King and it struck me that there is a parallel between the King and God. The Bible uses the analogy of marriage for the relationship between Jesus and those people who claim to follow Him. Now the King wanted to show off his wife's beauty to make the other men admire him. God/Jesus wants to show off our beauty too, so that other people realise that He is a good God and also want to follow Him. The King had a shallow standard, he thought only of his wife's physical attractions. God has a much better standard, He wants to display our characters, our goodness, kindness, gentleness, lovingness, etc, but He also wants to display our happiness, peace, trust and joy. He wants others to see that because of our interactions with Him we are better people and also happier people.
Which brings us to Vashti, the Kings wife. She refused the Kings command, "No, I'm too busy having a good time with my friends, I won't come to the Kings party and make him look good." She forgot that it was because of him that she was even able to have her own party. She took him for granted. All too often I find myself being like Vashti, God shows me something in His word that He wants me to do, maybe it is some character growth to make me more 'beautiful' or maybe it is something that will allow Him to display his goodness through me, and I say "No" because I'm too busy, or too afraid, or too lazy, or too ... whatever... you get the idea. I act like the arrogant Queen Vashti and refuse the God who gave me everything I have. In the story the King demotes the Queen and sends her to the harem of women he never wants to see again. (That's just the first chapter ... ) Luckily for us God does not do that to us, instead He keeps calling and requesting and pleading with us to do things His way. I think it is time to stop taking Him for granted and do what He asks - which will make everybody happier, including me.
So Changing Topic Again - That Interesting Conversation:
I won't repeat the entire conversation but the paraphrased version is ... one of my friends said that Esther is one of his favourite women in the Bible because she used her womanly wiles to good advantage. Now given that we had been chatting about 'womanly wiles' earlier, and he maintains that every female ever born is gifted in the use of manipulation, seduction and blackmail, and that I can't see how any of those things could possibly be good I was rather intrigued by this statement. On elaboration I discovered that according to him "all men want to be manipulated, as long as they don't know they are being manipulated, and as long as it is for their good." And in fact "being manipulated into being a better person causes a man to appreciate the woman he is with even more." I can see and even understand how he arrived at his point, but I'm not sure I agree, somehow it doesn't seem very honest. If it is true then I can safely say I am doomed to be single forever because manipulation is something that requires subtlety and finesse - not two of my biggest talents ... being someone who is a subtle as a brick.
Would be intrigued to hear if other men agree with this or if it is just his idea?
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