Rainy Thursday, blogging on my lunch-break. Not that I'm above blogging at work, but I'm trying to overcome that urge.

***

A few notes: This blog continues to be a place in which I can stretch myself as a writer, discover what I'm capable of, and simply keep the urge to write mildly sated. It seems to be a way for me to get my thoughts in order. And it keeps the juices flowing! Also, it helps somehow to imagine one has readers, or to know that there is at least the potential for readers. That knowledge provides just the degree of responsibility that I need to keep from, well, "mumbling" in print.

***

I've been reading J. I. Packer's book on the Holy Spirit, called Keep in Step with the Spirit. It's just wonderful. I'm reading a library edition, but there's no doubt I will have to own it someday. So rich is this book with wise insights that it would be difficult to choose a single representative passage. But here's one:

The journey of our lives is a double journey. There is an outward journey into external confrontations, discoveries, and relationships, and there is an inner-journey into self-knowledge and the discovery of what for me as an individual constitutes self-expression, self-fulfillment, freedom, and contentment within. For the Christian, the outward journey takes the form of learning to relate positively and purposefully to the world and other people--that is, to all God's creatures--for God the creator's sake, and the inward journey takes the form of gaining and deepening our acquaintance with God himself and with Jesus the Son.