Timeless Village

It was great to be back in the countryside to teach our lively English class. This time we stayed on fifth floor for the best view of the village and surrounding mountains we've had. The class paid remarkably close attention to the story of Joshua with visual aids.
Our family divided to attend two different meetings last night. Annelisa and I found ourselves in a very modest home in the neighboring village. I was struck both while walking there and while in service by the timelessness and simplicity that marks the countryside. Beside the road a white-haired old man in peasant blue, clutches with one hand the kind of plow his ancestors have used from time immemorial as the plodding water buffalo demonstrates his skill at cultivating the field. In the meeting, the ladies in their drab clothing, simple hairstyles, and weather worn faces might be peasants of another age, another land, I thought--- nothing unique to distinguish them. Not that there was nothing special about them: there was the earnestness and the glow of the Divine, enhancing the plain faces. The speaker was announced as the service progressed and one was startled to have no time to prepare... just as well, for short and sweet was the result, as we shared on God's love in suffering: how we are privileged to help bear His Cross.