Learning to talk to myself in the sardine can: A journey to discover the inner monologue

By all means use sometimes to be alone.  Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear. – George Herbert

Its 9am on southwest airlines flight 575 to Denver. I’m sitting in the first row wedged like a sardine between two men a younger fellow in a crisp business suit and a friendly-looking grandpa. I’m in the midst of my usual flight routine: a rotation between reading the paper, doing the crossword, listening to my iPod, reading a book , feasting my face with 100-calorie cheesenips and ginger ale. While this seems like a bit much, a lot to bite off in a 5 hour flight, its become the norm for me as I get used to traveling for my job.

Perhaps because I can’t physically move around cooped up in a tight space, doing a lot of little tasks keeps me alert– at least until I fall asleep. Business Suit man was doing a similar but more high class routine– replace my Sun Times with his Wall Street Journal, my scratched up iPod with his glistening iPhone, replace the sweaty armpit section on my raggedy Obama T-shirt with his tailor-made threads.

But sometime midflight, we were probably flying over a Nebraska cornfield, I looked over to grandpa on his left and was intrigued. He had no routine like me or Business Suit. He hadn’t said a word other than a warm hello when we first sat down. Yet he was wide awake, his eyes focused ahead but not really looking at anything. The back of his hands rested on his thighs and his wrinkled hands curled upwards. He was wearing a plain, mesh navy blue trucker hat with a small marine pin on the right side. But the hat like the rest of his body sat there motionless, apart from the occasional yawn.

I also noticed that he had absolutely nothing on his person. No watch, no phone, certainly no iPod. I’m pretty sure he didn’t have a Nintendo DS or PSP either. He had nothing in his pockets. And he just sat there. His facial expression wasn’t extremely happy nor sad, but he looked comfortable and content. He looked as if he were at peace. It was at that moment my intrigue turned to curiosity.

Moravian Prayer for Wisdom

I’ve been subscribing to these daily Bible emails from the Moravian church. Every day they send me one psalm, one OT, one NT and a host of other passages for meditation and prayer. I have to admit that at first this didn’t exactly sit well with my InterVarsity-training… I wanted to do manuscript studies and read the different texts in context! But I’ve since seen the value of just getting a helping of daily bread and letting it nourish me for the day.

I’m still figuring out a routine for more intense studies of scripture, but right now, this has been a helpful time for me. Even reading obscure passages like Judges 9. I don’t completely undersatnd the text, and as much I’d love to do an in-depth study of the context and historical-cultural background, I also believe the Word of God is living and active and has the power to speak, even if I don’t try to slay the text with my weapons of rationality to discern a meaning. Sign up for this service for yourself or at least try it out!

Anyways, all that to say in today’s readings there was a great prayer for wisdom included in our readings and I’d thought I’d share it with you all in blog-o-land. Enjoy, and have a great day!

God of wisdom and understanding, many of us are gearing up for school – wondering, anticipating, and curious. Thank you for the gift of learning as we develop our intelligence and compassion. Thank you for those who are foolish enough to teach, strong enough to ask questions, humble enough to learn, angry enough to want to bring change, focused enough to care effectively, and wise enough to pray. Amen.