the eternal

I remember after I used to have late-night workout sessions with some of my GNC brothers, I would come home and ask them if I really had to shower. I hated showering so late at night, especially after being so worn-out from exercising. Plus, I didn't even sweat that much. They thought I was disgusting and rebuked me for this.

I know this is going to sound gross, but I'm not a big showering kind of person in general. I mean I shower daily out of obligation and because it's a cultural norm, but I don't understand those people who can take 30+ minute showers... I get so antsy in there. I remember when I used to dorm with Joyce at Yonsei, and after every time I'd come back from showering in our communal showers, she would be a lil' taken aback and say "that was fast." EVERY time. I sometimes purposely tried to stay in a little longer, conditioning my hair an extra 2 minutes or so just to get her to stop saying that.

I guess the reasoning behind not wanting to shower (unless its really hot, humid subtropic weather and I'm sweating buckets) is that the feeling is so temporal. We shower daily just so we can get dirty and shower again. And the same thing goes for food. I think the main reason why I'm not a hardcore foodie is that the joy one gets from eating food is so fleeting that sometimes it doesn't feel like it's worth it. 10 minutes of pleasure... for what? A hole in your wallet and possibly a stomach-ache or bad indigestion.

That's why I think I enjoy books so much. Reading a book is something that is a long, time-consuming process (a labor of love) where you feel emotionally attached and invested. Also, once you're done with a book, you don't just forget about it. The feelings, emotions, ideas, and application of a good story could resonate with you permanently.

I think that's one of the characteristics that I love about God. That He's timeless and the promise that He offers is an eternal one.

Quote from Dostoevsky from Tim Keller's The Reason for God (I just have to say how happy I am that he quoted Dostoevsky- Kudos to Tim!):
"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened."

And C.S. Lewis:
"They say of some temporal suffering,'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained will work backwards and turn even that agony into glory."