BROTHERS OVERNIGHTER
After a comprehensive physical exam in Korea, with a fairly clean bill of health and feeling grateful, I invited the FAN (Fully Alive Network) brothers for a weekend getaway. With the thawing weather, I was eager to get out, explore, and indulge my appetite as a reward. The School of Spiritual Direction is now essentially wrapped up, with all coursework completed. I also knew my wife would be a happy camper to have the house entirely to herself without my large presence. Five of the six brothers decided to join the trip. I took on the role of driver and asked others to help organize it. We bought a six-seater SUV specifically for occasions like this. I knew that our trip would be far from being bougie. What I desired simply was nature, good food, and brotherhood.
Buoyed by many reasons to celebrate, we chose Icheon as our destination. It’s less than an hour’s drive from our house, but I had never been south, as we had explored some parts of the north and east from Yangpyeong. (Seoul is west of us.) It turned out that we discovered a goldmine of eateries, bakeries, and stunning nature and forest gardens. Leading up to our trip, my wife and I have been watching the show called Bake Your Dream on Netflix. Our nightly torture of watching others consume all kinds of bread and pastries was about to be lifted big time. Soon, I would be mimicking oohs and aahs.
As Icheon is known for premium rice fit for Joseon dynasty royalty, its stone pot rice is nationally renowned, as many of their breads and pastries are made with rice with no flour added. Icheon is also known as the nation’s center for traditional ceramics and pottery making. We thought about signing up for a pottery class. However, we could not overcome the optics of five middle-aged men doing pottery. But after picking up a small, unadorned, charming plate for my wife, we ended up going to natural hot springs, as Icheon’s hot springs maintain their fair share of attractions. In short, it was my kind of town. As we went from warm to hot to cold, back to hot water baths, in a room filled with naked men, I was reminded of how I came to this world and how I will go. And that I must travel light, unencumbered.
I know a thing or two about joy, and we all do as we have deposits made in our joy bank. In recent years, thanks to Suji Enneagram, I discovered that one of my main heavenly invitations in life is to spread joy wherever I am. Joy cannot be manufactured and is not a solitary emotion. Joy is a relational and shared emotion. Thus, when it is shared, joy explodes exponentially and provides healing and restoration where the shalom is needed the most. The outworkings of joy are a culmination of the five senses, effortlessly working, combined with brotherly interactions of small, kind, warm gestures, smiles, laughter, and pain. In the life of love, joy is a heavenly gift of longing and belonging in the earthly. Joy cannot be bought; its priceless beauty comes only from relationships forged in the lives of love.
With the joy-filled and cheating weekend behind me, I will resume hitting the gym today with my wife while still savoring the shared gift.