No title would do it justice

A funny thing happened to me this evening. As I walked towards the library, I was filled with something I can only describe as 'rapturous joy'. This all may sound cheesy, but it is only because I have no way of putting it into words . It was so unexpected, and welcome, and strange. Anyone who knows me know that I am not prone to feel anything of that sort, which is why it was so strange. As I walked down the street, I was suddenly overpowered by a deep sense of happiness surging up inside of me in such a way that I could not help smiling and had to keep myself from skipping. I do not know what it was that brought it on. Perhaps it was that I had been profoundly moved by the end of George Macdonald's book Phantastes a couple of hours before. Or it may have been the effect of dusk on the ancient architecture. Or it may have been that the air was filled with the intoxicating smell of springtime. Or the way that the warm sun combined with the brisk air on my skin. Perhaps a bit of all of those things, or perhaps something else altogether. All I know is that for a great part of the evening I was filled with a tremendous feeling of gratitude for being able to experience those moments. lt was as if any bad times past or to come will stand dwarfed next to those incredibly affecting moments. It was as if suddenly the world came into focus. As if I was smelling the air for the first time, or seeing the color of the grass in clear light. If I have ever felt this, I cannot remember it. It was as if the skies parted and God, if only for a brief moment, looked down upon me and smiled.