cycling, friends, poverty, God

This was a good day. I rode my bike for over an hour (total). That might be the longest I've ridden a bike in one outing. I rode mainly through Tower Grove. My primary mission was to go to the bicycle shop next to Tower Grove (A & M, Arsenal and Morgan Ford) to buy bicycle lights and a reflective vest so that I will be able to ride safely at night. Actually, I'm rather ashamed that I bought something today, it being Buy Nothing Day, to counter all of the day-after-thanksgiving-christmas-shoppers. But it was a small business and not a mall, so I can live with myself. Apparently the teachers at my school who ride their bikes to school also go to this bicycle shop, because the guy saw the billiken on my jacket and named some of my teachers, so that was cool. Then I continued on my ride. I found a wildbird garden in the park, which is the most secluded part of the park I've found so far. There's a bench and a small fountain, and even some little birds (finches, I would venture), so it was nice to rest there for a bit. Before that, I had actually rode past the swings, but a teenage girl all dressed in black with her bangs dyed green was already swinging, which is actually who I would imagine to swing there (besides actual kids) for some reason. Not that there weren't other swings there, I just didn't have the courage to swing there too. But I came back after the bird garden and no one was there. I like to swing. I like playing in general, but swinging can be especially fun. Then some actual kids did come with their parents. I think the parents thought I was weird because they didn't really look at me at all, except maybe out of the corner of their eye. I tried to have a friendly face, but introvert that I am, I didn't attempt to converse with them at all. But I'm okay with them thinking that I'm weird. And I don't need to wear black clothes and dye my bangs green to prove it. Then I finally went home. I had planned to spend the rest of my day reading or possibly start on the weekend's homework, but Maria called. And spending time with friends trumps reading every time. The books will always be there (if I renew them at the library), but with the majority of my friends being away at college, I have to make the most of the time that I can actually be with them. So that was fun. We played frisbee a little, but it was slightly too windy/wet. But it was active and free, so I was happy. Then we watched Good Will Hunting, in which Will learns the importance of living life, experiencing everything instead of just knowing about it from books. Nice parallel to my choice of activities for the night.

Just a note on my anti-consumerism goals, an insight gained from St. Ignatius' First Principle and Foundation:

But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal. In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation.We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.

I can't make poverty my god, obviously. I need to always focus on and direct everything I do to God. Above all, prayer is the habit I need to develop. Without that, any of this bike riding or play or friendships becomes the main focus when my life could be so much richer if I could only learn to focus on God.