sharp knives

Part of my job as a tea hostess is preparing for the following day. After the guests have been served, the bills have been paid, the lobby has been cleaned, and the dishes have been washed, two things are left: folding napkins and cutting lemons.
This evening, I went back to the pastry kitchen in search of a knife for my lemon-cutting duties. I watched as the pastry chef rinsed one off for me and swiftly and skillfully honed the blade.


"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (proverbs 27:17)


I went to a friend's apartment after work to see her new place and have some tea (after serving all afternoon, it's nice to be served!). We ended up making some tapas and having great conversation, encouraging each other, sympathizing with one another, and discussing recent thoughts and mini-epiphanies.
In the struggle to be fully human -- to BE -- connection is so essential, and yet so easy to breeze right past. I was supposed to go eat and stay the night with another good friend, but those plans fell through. Either way, I'm sure my night would've been refreshing and fun, but BEING for that time with Anna was life-giving for both of us. We shared from what we've been reading and listening to lately; we spoke affirming truths. I left feeling satisfied and fortified -- sharpened -- from time with another little iron.

I always want to go and do. To be "productive". Suddenly, instead of responsibilites being good things, I find myself enslaved and unable to enjoy. Work becomes "the daily grind" instead of a meaningful and stimulating pursuit.
It's my tendency to try to cram too much in, and this can reach into the social realm as well. Instead of really being with a friend, I am thinking about what, or who, is next on my agenda for the day. "Concentrate on the particulars," says the Madeleine L'Engle who lives in my head. Don't just have a dialogue (dia: across, legein: speak), have a conversation (conversari: live with, keep company with; literally, "turn about with").

Let's turn about with each other. Let's live. Let's encourage each other to really see, really hear, really taste, smell, and feel. Rub up against each other: sharpen up.



proper respects to: my dear Madeleine (A Circle of Quiet again), www.etymonline.com, http://joyinthemargins.blogspot.com (especially his late-2007 series on margin)