joie de vivre

i've had another lovely evening. i was at the waikato interfaith council meeting tonight, and we were hosted by the mormon community out in templeview. before the meeting started, the director of their visitor's centre gave us a short tour with a bit of background on their beliefs.

i knew most of the stuff he told us, having visited the centre several times before. but i find it interesting to hear people speak about their religious beliefs - the spiritual aspects of it anyway. i like to know what it is that connects them to that religion, the underlying values and the things that inspire them. i realise that people very often don't live up to these ideals, and that the practicalities of it all can be problematic. but at the theoretical level, i find hearing the things that inspire others are always really useful for me to reflect on where i'm at & how i need to improve.

after the meeting proper, we were entertained by a barbershop quartet. four teenage boys sang us a couple of songs, and they were wonderful. one of the songs was "i've been working on the railroad", complete with actions. they were so full of joie de vivre, so much enjoying themselves and had lovely voices. i know i keep saying this, but i don't think i can say it enough: we really don't appreciate our young people enough, and we don't praise them enough. we just don't think as well of them as we should. well, these boys deserve all the praise they get, and i'm still on a high from their performance.

i've said this before as well, but i really enjoy interfaith meetings. it's so nice to be in a room full of people with diametrically opposed worldview, but full of goodwill and friendship. yup, you can actually feel the love in the room, it's almost a physical thing that envelops all of us in it's warmth and comfort.