i could never be a monk

I've learned over the past couple of days, I could never be a monk*. For me there is the obvious, I love music. So to be in constant solitude would be difficult. But honestly it isn't because of the music. It is because of people. Monks take pleasure in the little things and it is good to stop and smell the roses but what about smelling people. ha I know that is a weird and probably unpleasant thought for some of you but let me explain. I see beauty in people just as someone may stop and smell the rose and see the beauty in that. It is ever so evident to me when I am with people that God created this world and that sin has stained it. So wouldn't that mean it would be depressing to be around people because of sin? Wouldn't it be better to just be with the roses? Okay, first let me remind you roses have thorns and unless in Eden the thorns were all soft and didn't cut you when you touched them I'm thinkin' they are probably a part of the whole sin thing as well but back to people... I see redemption in people. I see the love of Jesus breaking down the hardest of hearts. I can see the reality that we are image bearers... When I by myself it is so easy to get lost in lies but when I am with people who have already recognized this life is not their own, I am thrusted towards truth. When I am by myself I get lost in me but when I am with other people I am reminded, I am alive for so much more than a measly life of "me"... the places that seem the darkest to people I see God shining the brightest. It's in those places where there is a small group of people who say "this life is not my own" amongst many people who have no idea what to think about life... that is when life makes sense to me. But alone...don't let me go there.

*I've never really studied monks so I may just be hitting all kinds of stereotypes but from what I do know, which may in fact be all wrong, I could never be a monk