Journal Week 14: Sentimental

I don't know if it's growing older, or if God, after decades of work, is finally breaking my heart. Or maybe I'm just slowly going crazy.

I find myself growing increasingly sentimental. I'm quick to tears in the face of beauty, suffering, and the passing of time. The ache springs out of this great affection, sympathy, and joy.

It's not a mountaintop experience, triggered by beautiful locations or charismatic speakers. The fount of these tears is the ordinary. This is a mysticism of the gutters and alleyways.

It's like that mystical moment Thomas Merton had standing on a busy city sidewalk, looking at all the passing people and feeling great love for them. The blind now seeing clearly. I'm no Merton, but my tearful moments are like that.

A flash of love and joy when beholding the world.

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