Air Mattress Spirituality Discussion Group

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful—he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 
-Romans 10:13

I opted not to attend my evening commitment last night, instead having dinner and carefully setting up a temporary drawing studio in the sink room.  I listened to music and drew, shaped, erased, redrew the set up (jewelry hanging from metal bars) that I had arranged.  The lights were out except for the little desktop lamp I had brought with me as a light source for the drawing, and the room was peaceful and dark.  I spent a couple hours drawing, secluded but not really alone.  Several people stopped by—some of them several times—to say hello, look at the drawing, give me a hug.  It was very relaxing.  (The drawing itself, I think, turned out very well, although much of the darker charcoal has already brushed off—so it looked good at one point, at least.  I really do need to buy some fixative for all these charcoal drawings that I've been doing.)

After finishing the drawing (in all honesty, I didn't quite finish—I realised after I had packed up that I had forgotten to put in some final details, but decided that things were good enough), I brought the art-specific things downstairs to my room and moved the rest of my work for the night into the lounge.  I had some homework for one of my German classes—it was kind of touch-and-go.  Sometimes I could read exactly what it said, and sometimes I couldn't make heads nor tails of an entire paragraph.  But I worked on that for a while, eventually resigning myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get any further than I had already gotten.

And to be honest, my mind wasn't entirely on my German homework (well, is it ever?).  There were two very interesting discussions going on in the lounge—two friends talking about life, and two others, further away, talking about the nature of religion.  The latter two eventually disappeared, but as the night went on, more and more people joined the first quiet discussion.

And people began talking about what they believe, and what they don't—the questions they have, the things they wonder about, their journeys toward and away from God.  Why they believe—or don't any longer—what they were taught as children, and everyone's quiet, uncertain, personal thoughts on what they think they might believe someday, but don't quite yet.

It was strange, and sad, and beautiful—the little moments, the questions, the honest curiosity.  Wonderful to watch and listen as these people talked about what they hold true in life—so strange to see the softer, uncertain, side of them—and sad, as they spoke about the things they don't believe, even though they wish they did.  The gentleness in the conversation was...amazing. 

I think people are beautiful.