peace

Isn't it great when things are just...good? 

I sat down to dinner after a long day at work today and it was just so good. 

Joey is at our friend Kip's house tonight gleefully getting his fill of basketball from March Madness. Rosy is pooped out laying underneath her bed, exhausted from a day of play with her dog-friend Winnie. There's a fluid, loose rhythm flowing into the room from the ipod and it's making me move around the kitchen as I cook. I sing the singer's pensive words as if they are my own. Steamy, savory aromas rise from the pots and pans and I breathe deep. I can taste those smells in my mouth. 

There is peace in the house. Peace after a long day.

A mist lingers outside my second-story window persuading me to get cozy and comfy. To be thankful for home and the shelter it brings. Things are getting cold, foggy and difficult to see out there. But in here there are sweet smells, a warm oven, and gentle contemplations. 

I am so thankful for what I have. I have been given such good gifts. By a good Giver. A Giver who knows just what I need and is happy to grant graciously. I have a perfect-sized apartment that I whole-heartedly call home; a wonderful, caring and surprising man to share it with who constantly makes me laugh, think, rejoice, get frustrated, practice patience, and learn happy humility - as all good relationships should; I am blessed to be paid money to serve the local church; I have a wonderful, slightly insane family who truly loves each other and us; friends I hope to know to the grave; the hope of a future that will keep getting better as we plan on adding little Vargas-i (multiple Vargas') in a couple years; and a compassionate, honorable, and worthy Lord as my King. 

This is only the beginning.

And as I sit storing up all these things in my heart, my plate now emptied of its satisfying contents, I start to realize how untouchable we are. 

Joey has been having nightmares on a regular basis for about a week or two now. Every other night or so he is terrorized with these strange, sinister scenarios that leave him to wake unnerved and anxious. It is rare that Joey will have any dreams at all during the night, so to have frequent ones so suddenly whether fanciful or foreboding is out of the norm for him. Combine that with his recent bronchial illness and severe ankle injury after men's retreat, we can't help but think that there may be unseen forces at work here. Forces that would wish us harm, worry or distraction. 

But what they so arrogantly fail to realize is.....

We are untouchable.

There is nothing that will divert me from this peace I have found. 

At times I fail. Failure is inevitable. Recovery is certain.

What plans there are for us on either side of those realms that war against each other before my unseeing eyes I can't say that I know. 

I know which side I am fighting for; I know which side will win.

And so there is peace in the house tonight. And things are good.

But still that fog lingers on...