Yes, dear.

We are carried through life. It is not our choice. It is not our breath that is in our lungs. Sometimes the motion that is around us, in this act of living and being, is soothing and peaceful. Other times life crashes around us; like the thunder you feel that aches in your bones.
On Thursday of this week, I finished my classes for the day and I had one hour before I had to be in a meeting. It was an ordinary day.
Sometimes I get really overwhelmed by the demands of life. I realize that I make my own life demanding and it is inherently my choice. My choice is to get the most out of the time I am given and I am determined to no end. But I do reach a point where I question what it is that I am working so hard to achieve.
On this day, I found myself led me to a coffee shop that is a minute away from campus on Main. I know the employees at Mon Ami. My friend Sean, who is in my World Literature class, has an older sister and she is the co-owner of the shop.
As soon as I walked in and saw him I said, "Hey Sean, do you want to make me some coffee?"
And he said, "Yes."
He also asked me, "How well are you loving other people?",
"What is your prayer life like?" and
"Are the things that you want right now the things that God wants for you?"
My answers to these were that I didn't have any. I don't have answers to the hard questions in life and yet right now, I have answers to the stuff that doesn't matter. He explained to my why I felt like I was laboring in toil.
There is a German professor who has made Mon Ami his frequent resting place. When I see Julian, he is always surrounded by lively people and he is enjoying a beer. He is wonderful to talk to. He joined the conversation Sean and I were having for a brief moment and he began to explain why he drinks more than one beer in the afternoon. It is because he takes time in his day to not be working. He decides to not respond to e-mails. He explained to us that the French, when describing their profession say, "Je fait..." (I do...) instead of, "Je suis..." (I am...) which is to say that they "do" some kind of work instead of becoming their work. And then he said something so profound. He said, "My job (as a German teacher) is not my profession; humankind is my profession."