But ah...will they remember?

Was it a cold awakening Christmas morning?
In a wooden trough,
In spite of straw and swaddling clothes and angel songs?
That was not to be the last time you'd be laid upon the wood
(There were Herods, Judases from the start
Among the stars and shepherds).
And did they smile, those simple folk,
And kiss your tiny hands and weep delight?
They'd touch those hands again someday,
Believing you through cracks and scars.
Then oh! the million Christmas mornings
When you'd lie, a babe again,
Beneath a million million trees
And hear the countless tongues chanting your name.
And oh! the white snow on black shingles
Where icy crystals capture windows
And fires glow and mistletoe is wreathed and strung.
But ah...will they remember crimson
Dripping from the iron nails
And will they pray and will they know
A whiter white than
Snow?

- Keith Patman, "Snow"

I do not know what to ask of You

O Lord, I do not know what to ask of You.
You alone know my true needs.
You love me more than I myself know how to love.
Help me to see my real needs which are concealed from me.
I do not dare to ask either for a cross or for consolation.
I can only wait on You. My heart is open to You.
Visit me and help me; cast me down and raise me up.
I worship in silence Your holy will and Your unsearchable ways.
I offer myself as a sacrifice to You.
I have no desire than to fulfill Your will.
Teach me to pray. Pray, You Yourself in me. Amen.

- St. Philaret of Moscow

Poland's best skiier

The cutest/sweetest song ever! Catchy too. It has a classic sound to it. Sigh. His voice is from another era or something. Apparently, this guy, Andrzej Bachleda, is Poland's best skiier...who is unbelievable at music too...! Unfortunately, I can't find any place online that sells his album...



Andrzej Bachleda, "Time Ruines"

silent as my shadow

"I wish to be loyal, discreet, and silent as my shadow."

[Dom Helder Camara, Archibishop of Olinda and Recife, Brazil]

oh, undeserved sweetness and light

oh, undeserved sweetness and light,
stay by my side.
we will go out in the morning now,
a crown of maple leaves, a crown of flowers

- The Innocence Mission, "Happy Birthday"

I do not wish to be pale pink

And I do not want to be a rose,
I do not wish to be pale pink,
but flower scarlet, flower gold,
And have no thorns to distance me,
But be bright
bright
bright
bright as yellow
warm as yellow

- The Innocence Mission, "Bright As Yellow" (watch & listen here)

what is low and despised

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it please God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Paul / I Corinthians 1:20-31

And now I'll eat his flesh

I'm being asked to drink the blood of Christ
And now I'll eat his flesh
I'm alone before the altar
Shedding all my old regrets

- Johnny Flynn, "The Wrote & the Writ"

Why don't we share our solitude?

Nothing is pure anymore but solitude.

Mew, "Comforting Sounds"

"Ochi Chernye, I have no mon-ya for my hon-ya which is no fun-ya."

Yesterday my grandpa was singing a Russian song called "Ochi Chernye" which means "Dark Eyes." The other day he was lifting weights to Tchaikovsky's organ music.

I think he has very good taste in music.

Grandpa made some new lyrics to "Ochi Chernye" though.

"Ochi Chernye, I have no mon-ya for my hon-ya which is no fun-ya...Ochi Chernye..."

I got my smile, and it's my smile.

I love her strong, solid face and her strong, solid voice.



"Ain't Got No / I Got Life" performed in Harlem, 1969

I got life, I've got life's
I've got headaches
And toothaches
And bad times too
Like you - Nina Simone

Educated for the skies.

"Think of God working in the solitary things, for the grass does not merely grow around our populous cities, and where men take care of it, but up there on the side of the bleak Alp, where no traveller has ever passed. Where only the eye of the wild bird has beheld their lonely verdure, the moss and the grass come to perfection, and display all their beauty, for God's works are fair to other eyes than those of mortals. And you, solitary child of God, dwelling far away from any friend, unknown and obscure, in a remote hamlet; or you in the midst of London, hiding away in your little garret, unknown to fame, and forsaken by friendship, you are not forgotten by the love of heaven. He maketh the grass to grow all alone, and shall not he make you flourish in loneliness? He can bring forth your graces, and educate you for the skies, in solitude and neglect."

- Charles Spurgeon, "Solitary Saints"

Wise Advice from a Good Friend

Wise Advice from a Good Friend:

"Don't let [Satan] steal your anticipation to see what God is going to do, or where you will eventually 'find' God. Keep asking God where he is, in the sense that he wants to lead you somewhere, not in the sense that he is not with you." - Dori

"Let me clarify the word 'postmodernism.' Evangelicals throw that word around a lot. Basically, it is used in the sense that 'If you don't agree with me, you're a postmodernist.'" - Prof. Vena (paraphrased)

Turn within.

I was looking through my Moleskine book and stumbled upon my notes from Sunday School.

"Never forget that you're a child. Turn within to Jesus Christ. Our life is hidden in Christ, so look within your heart. Be available to God. Give your heart to God moment by moment. Remember you're a child. Our minds are full of thoughts, and sometimes the spiritual part of our lives is diminished in our thoughts. We are to pray without ceasing, but this means to be available to God's grace, being available to say, 'God, I can't do this.' There is to be a deeper experience of Christ at hand NO matter what your circumstances. God requires your heart above all else. Endless discussion breeds confusion. All you need is to turn to Jesus within you."

"Just as you couldn't contribute to your initial salvation, so you cannot now. Jesus would have us use our past sins as a basis for humility. Don't look at others as 2nd-rate; you yourself are 2nd-rate. There but for the grace of God go I. Take forgiveness seriously. He is there to forgive you. So, in your failures, Christ is preparing us for future tests in which we will be faithful."

"Don't look to your own resources. In His mercy, He tells us we are nothing. Be unmixed. In the fire, there is life in Christ. All good things are eternal. The fire is God's mercy. God understands the tension; he knows our tension. He is shaping me in my pain. Pain is a vessel. God is bringing pain in to make us pure and unmixed. After the fire what remains is eternal."

"Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?"

- Paul, from Acts 26:8

Christ bearing the cross.

Christ Bearing the Cross, with a Dominican Friar by Barna da Siena

Forward into light.

Look how pretty it is.
The sun shines down
Trying to make the yellow
Warm and bright;
The trees cover it
So gently and kindly;
I feel like sitting on the rusty porch swing
swaying backward into shade
and forward into light.

Morning Star, so radiant and holy,
Shine on me in my great hour of need
Jesus Christ, so beautiful and lovely,
Shine over me.

- Don Peris

Salt.

Last night we all gasped
As we came out of the professor's house.
His porch light had gone out,
And the sky was so brightly lit with stars.
We all didn't know what to say,
But we laughed into the sky.
We saw that salt had been poured
Out on a black table cloth.
And we climbed into the car.

Eudora Welty as photographer

photograph by Eudora Welty

I'm 21!

A very happy birthday. So far I've received a lovely bouquet of flowers and a lovely cup of hot tea.

Sammy Davis Jr. in Wonderland

My favorite memory of my papaw is Alice in Wonderland. He had a version of the movie recorded from television that he would let my siblings and I watch when we went over to his house. I've been reading Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-Glass, and several vivid images have popped up in my mind. I remember this movie that my papaw had. This put me to a search, and I found the movie on Amazon. Needless to say, I bought it immediately. This version of Alice in Wonderland was made in 1985. Several famous people were in it:

Scott Baio (as Pat the Guinea Pig)
Red Buttons (as White Rabbit)
Sid Caesar (as Gryphon)
Sammy Davis Jr. (as Caterpillar)
Roddy McDowell (as March Hare)
Jayne Meadows (as Queen of Hearts)
Robert Morley (as King of Hearts)
Anthony Newley (as the Mad Hatter)
Donald O'Connor (as Lory Bird -- my favorite)
Ringo Starr (as the Mock Turtle)
Shelley Winters (as the Dodo Bird)
Ernest Borgnine (as the Lion)
Patrick Duffy (as the Goat)
Merv Griffin (as the Conductor)
Pat Morita [yes, as in the one from Karate Kid] (as the Horse)
John Stamos [yes, as in Uncle Jesse] (as the Messenger)
Sally Struthers (as in Tiger-Lily)

Anyway, I am sooo excited about this movie. Here is a clip of Sammy Davis Jr. as the Caterpillar. So good!