Poetry

Today [Friday] as I walked through Siem Reap, looking for new things discovered, I walked by many, many shops. Crammed one right after another, selling souvenir crap that no one back home actually wants from their traveling friends. But one store jumped out to me today and I had to go in. It was called Poetry. Immediately the stainless steel shelf décor and grunge font signage caught my eye. A sign said everything in the store was made from recyclable materials, from jewelry to books to postcards to bags. I walked through, wanting to by everything I saw. But today I only bought 2 things, a “sketchbook” with a silver silkscreen imprint of the Angkor Wat temples and the text “Kingdom of Wonders” and a postcard.


I bought the sketchbook to use as a memory book. I've really moved away from the art of a scrapbooking (much to my mother's chagrin), and am all about digital pictures. But there is just something about holding tangible memories from a trip that is just so meaningful. So my intentions are to print out some pictures from the trip and mount them in the book, record some thoughts or verses from the trip, and even have some of the girls write in it, because the Khmer written language is just beautiful. I liked that the cover said “Kingdom of Wonder” because this whole trip has been a wonder. Not only do I “wonder” if I could be moving back here, but I'm in “wonder” of how these people live day to day, and I'm in “wonder” at how big our God is. So I thought it was appropriate, so I picked it up! I was about to pay my 5 American dollars (btw almost all shops use both American dollars and Cambodian riel, so it's quite common to get change back in both currencies. I have 3 different countries currencies in my wallet right now too!), when I saw a stack of sharply designed postcards with catchy sayings. One that grabbed me read “JOURNEYS are nothing more than a pile of plane tickets, bus stubs, restaurant bills, unused anti-diarrhea tablets, dirty laundry and a roll of undeveloped film still awaiting recollection of still memories to remind us that we are all strangers all yearning for a CONNECTION”. Oh what truth! On a $1 postcard! Every city, country and continent across our globe is filled with people searching for a connection. With a person or a place or a higher power, there is a yearning that remains unfulfilled. I consider myself extremely blessed to know that my yearning for connection can only be met my the Most High, and nothing short of eternity with Him will fill that void. So as I travel, across the world and back, I connect with people and places and hope in one way or another I am pointing back to where true connections are found.