The beginning of Lent term

This morning I woke up and didn't put my alarm on snooze before curling up on my knees under my duvet, and then slowly unfolding myself out of bed. It was a bad idea not to wear socks, and my feet got a shock on the cold bathroom tiles, and so i ran back under the covers, warmed up, and then faced the bathroom again.

I went to the Friday morning college prayer meeting, where the leader read Romans 5:6-8, and now I'm back in my warm room with my second bowl of muesli and bananas. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the roof of the coach house is tinted gold and I have this perfect music playing.

I've decided that this term is my carpe diem term. It's my term for doing everything I can, possibly exhausting myself, but in the best possible way. I've signed up for two dances in the ballet society's production of Romeo and Juliet, made a commitment to go for college prayer meetings every Friday, to go for at least two rambles this term, to volunteer for Twilight at the museums, possibly sign up for the committee, apply to work in a May Ball, go for Yoga every Wednesday, and attend the Hulsean lectures on Tuesday evenings before FOCUS in church.

Muesli is one way I am coping with all of this since it means I don't have to make porridge in the mornings, and besides, there's something pretty wonderful about the cool, sogginess of museli - so comforting that I had it for dinner on my second night back because I couldn't be bothered to cook.

So far, I'm loving it. Yesterday, after my first rehearsal for 'The Dance of the Knights', I cycled back through the raw cold so happy, and caught a beautiful sight of a clear black sky with stars as I wheeled my bike to the bike rack. My first two lectures have considerably improved my opinion of (and interest in) the Renaissance as well as given me a rough plan for my essay (which I should be writing right now)

On Tuesday, I went for a long walk with Alex, just discussing how things have been and how things will be. We dropped into an art gallery where I bought a postcard of a woman diving. If you turn the postcard, it seems as if she is flying. Endless possibility. We also stopped in a chocolate shop because why not? It was a very posh chocolate shop with the kind of chocolate bars that look like nuts, fruit, honeycomb, praline, or citrus got overtaken by a pyroclastic flow of chocolate. I picked up a bottle of Potter's Herbals Catarrh mixture to hopefully cure my bad throat by Friday evening when I am leading worship in cell group.

Thank you God, for arms and legs that move, for music, for dance, for life, for sunshine in winter. Thank you for your biggest gift of all, for saving us, though we were sinners, through the grace of Jesus' death on the cross. Please let us use every breath to worship you in thought, deed and action. Let us be kind to others as you were kind to us, to love others with the same selfless love you gave to us and lavish upon us every day of our lives. Help us comfort those in pain and sadness with the words you give us which are better than any 'It's going to be okay' and 'Don't worry'. We give our days to you, our circumstances and our cares and fears to you, to weave into your marvelous plan, for your glory's sake. In Jesus' name, Amen.