Life Appreciation Moments

A friend once told me that her family celebrates "Sky Appreciation Moments", which can occur at any point in time. All it takes is one person to look up to the sky and start the moment of appreciation. I've always liked the idea, but I've found that I'm not content with just appreciating the sky. So I've upgraded the idea to "Life Appreciation Moments". It's all about taking a second to not be busy, or think about being busy, and simply be grateful for life (including the sky, or course). You're probably wondering what I'm doing what my inspiration has been for such thoughts. I can pretty much sum it up in a few short anecdotes.

First thing's first: I never though it would be so much fun to teach a Spanish person how to say "Lynyrd Skynyrd", and then explain that there is actually no translation for the name at all. It doesn't have to make any sense; it just is.

Shawarma. What can I say? It's an Arab food that's popular and cheap here, and basically consists of a pita-type wrap filled with a bunch of stuff like meat, cheese, eggs, veggies, and a delicious but mysterious sauce. There are countless places to buy Shawarma, but my favorites are the Shawarma King restaurants. They actually have real, comfortable furniture and lots of Arab decorations. It sort of feels like you've been transported into the movie Aladdin and are about to go on a magic carpet ride in a whole new world. But then you eat Shawarma, which is almost as exciting and just as other-worldly.

Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena

The different-church-every-week saga continues; last week I went to the Santuario Perpetuo Socorro (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and felt very much at home. I think the secret was the upbeat, contemporary music, which is not common at all here. I really miss being a part of the music at mass! This week I was drawn toward the Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena. It's fun picking a new place each week. Throughout the week I always keep my eyes open and try to scope out new churches, and when I saw this place the other day I immediately wanted to go. The church was chilly, beautiful, and somewhat sparsely populated for mass. When I see how few people are in attendance, I have to remember that there are an enormous number of churches in Granada, and they all have several masses both on Saturday and Sunday. I've often wondered how all of these building can be maintained. After doing some research, I'm realizing that the Spanish government has something to do with it.

From the Santuario Perpetuo Socorro website: "Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us."

 While we were on our trip last week, I had an amazing experience. Since Catholicism is a major part of Spanish history and culture, we were visiting several Cathedrals. One of the girls in our group is not Christian, and after we left one of the churches she approached me and said, "So, who was this Jesus guy?" I was actually floored for a minute, but then I recovered and started to outline a few main points of Jesus' life. That has never happened to me before, but telling her the story - introducing Jesus as a man and the Son of God -  was honestly one of the most powerful moments of my life. As I was explaining, it was like I was hearing the story more clearly than ever, and believing it with strengthened faith. Sounds like an opportunity for a Life Appreciation Moment.


 On Saturday our group visited the Alhambra, which is one of Granada's biggest claims to fame. We were there for hours, but I feel as if we barely scratched the surface. Brief review: the Alhambra is a Moorish palace that was constructed in the 14th century. It wasn't used by the Moors for too long, because the Reconquista by the Reyes Católicos happened in 1492.   In the surrounding area are the beautiful gardens of the Generalife (pronounced hen-er-a-lee-fey). There is SO MUCH history and too many details to include here, but here are a few highlights of our tour.

Flags of the European Union, Andalucia, Spain, and Granada

  

Part of the Generalife gardens

View of the Alhambra from Generalife

This is cool - at the top of the outer arch you can see a hand with an eye in the center - the Muslim symbol for protection. The Reyes Católicos added the statue of Mary on the inside.

Now would be a good time for a life appreciation moment!
And now....
Now is good too...

: )