Deep--or Not So Deep--Thoughts

I tried to spend Spring Break intentionally, i.e., with as little computer time as possible.

One highlight was meeting the Darwins of Catholic internet fame, thanks to my friend Jordana's lovely hostess skills. I am a loyal fan.

Mrs. Darwin speaks exactly as I imagine her tapping away at a keyboard: with staccato-quick wit, one thought stringing to the next until you arrive someplace deeper altogether.

Those same thoughts got me into trouble. When I read her essay No More Chicken Soup For the Blog Soul, I reconsidered what I've been writing here. Do I trivialize the sacred?

More vainly, are my deep thoughts really that shallow?

I turn 35 today, the end of a watershed year. My Protestant friends write to inquire, "Do you feel like you've just been Saved?"

I type back: No, but I've been softened.

Thomas Merton describes this exposure of false self--the false and private self--as a process of drawing closer to God. Maybe for me, for now, it really is that simple.

So those Chicken-Soup bursts of clarity? I welcome them. May I be blessed with a few more moments when self-awareness falls so gently on my soul.