Five things friday

How can it be Friday already? Of course you know the answer... It comes after Thursday, which comes after Wednesday, which... yada yada. Anyway, here's what's rattling 'round my noggin' this morning:

1. I had a great conversation with a friend on the topic of - friendship (even though the stupid coffee shop didn't open until 9am!). My question: Do old white guys have anything to offer? Are we the reason it's so difficult anymore? Is our "place" now to simply shut up and get out of the way, or is that shirking our responsibility of imparting learned experience? Is wisdom even a thing anymore (does anyone have any/ has anyone ever had any?)? It's a hard place to be - for everyone (I think). My friend suggested we approach friendship as art. I think that's a great way of thinking about it! How does an artist approach a work? Perhaps stepping back and pondering... which, you know, kinda sounds like how Jesus often approached things (again, in my opinion, that is). Lots to wonder about...
2. It's on my mind a lot. I'm beginning to brace myself that even though I am now at the halfway point in my marathon training schedule... it's probably not going to happen. For me. The more I read about the upcoming catheter ablation (which I'm trying not to do), the more convinced I am that it will be next to impossible (or at least highly inadvisable) to attempt a marathon six weeks later. Not that training is ever wasted, but my concern is what happens next... (and I apologize for deleting the previous #2 and replacing it with this - trying to minimize controversy here).
   
3. Apparently President Biden canceled 1.2 Billion dollars in federal student debt this week. I have no idea how that works or what it means, but I thought it funny how one publication noted: "Congrats to those three students." Lol
4. Some items of note from TFU: 1) F1 > F2 = SQ means: if the fear of change (F1) is greater than the fear of not changing (F2), the Status Quo will prevail. 2) Looksmaxxing = the goal of men going under the knife to get a chiseled face. 3) Boy sober = when women choose to avoid men.
5. From Henri Nouwen's 'The Way of the Heart' (64): "...silence of the heart is much more important than silence of the mouth... Silence is primarily a quality of the heart that leads to ever-growing charity." 

 There are so many things going on in the world today and all around us... I keep coming back to how terrible I am, and how much I long to be better at... silence (of the heart); learning to be still. It's work (for me). Do you think it's worth it??