Signal Point

I love this city.

return, o my soul, to your rest

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.

Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

I believed, even when I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”

What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.

[Psalm 116]

what's beneath the surface of the life we have built

"Most of us don’t have much time in the margins to reflect on what we are feeling or how we are acting out of those feelings and values. Often it takes painful life-disruption before we stop and reflect on what’s beneath the surface of the life we have built. We live with patterns of behavior and relate to others without being awake to our real fears or woundedness." - Sandra McCracken

[from "Sandra McCracken on Life, Loss, and Longing in the Psalms"]

Fruit the point

"Roots are essential but not the point of a tree. Fruit is. Or shade. Or lumber. Or fall gold. So with man. Roots essential. Fruit the point." - John Piper

better is the end of a thing

"Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit."

[Ecclesiastes 7:8]

Love expensively.

Love expensively.

Meditation revelation: love and pride

The opposite of pride is love.

the more room is there for my Master

"The more empty I am, the more room is there for my Master. The more I lack, the more He will give me." (C.H. Spurgeon)

Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop: Tiny Desk Concert

Utterly beautiful.

questions to ask when you have a problem

I stumbled upon these questions that Quaker groups occasionally ask in helping you analyze problems in your life and why they are problems.

1) If this problem were a landscape, what would it look like?

2) Where in your body do you feel this question?

3) What images come to mind when you think of this problem?

we'll make a celebration

"All nature sings with nothing to bring
In ribbons of glory it wraps
Around our plans
All nations bring their tongues of offering
And in the end all my tables,
they tear down
Where the birds and leaves, they tell me
how I am to sing
So won't you take a cup and chair
and we'll make a celebration..." - Aimee Wilson

weary, working, burdened one

Weary, working, burdened one,
Wherefore toil you so?
Cease your doing; all was done
Long, long ago.

[Ira D. Sankey, "It is Finished!" hymn]

Psalm 130 (From the Depths of Woe)

From the depths of woe I raise to Thee
The voice of lamentation;
Lord, turn a gracious ear to me
And hear my supplication;
If Thou iniquities dost mark,
Our secret sins and misdeeds dark,
O who shall stand before Thee?
O who shall stand before Thee?

To wash away the crimson stain,
Grace, grace alone availeth;
Our works, alas! Are all in vain;
In much the best life faileth;
No man can glory in Thy sight,
All must alike confess Thy might,
And live alone by mercy
And live alone by mercy

Therefore my trust is in the Lord,
And not in mine own merit;
On Him my soul shall rest, His word
Upholds my fainting spirit;
His promised mercy is my fort,
My comfort and my sweet support;
I wait for it with patience
I wait for it with patience

What though I wait the live-long night,
And ’til the dawn appeareth,
My heart still trusteth in His might;
It doubteth not nor feareth;
Do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed,
Ye of the Spirit born indeed;
And wait ’til God appeareth
And wait ’til God appeareth

Though great our sins and sore our woes
His grace much more aboundeth;
His helping love no limit knows,
Our upmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is He,
Who will at last His Israel free
From all their sin and sorrow
From all their sin and sorrow.

[Martin Luther]

compelled by grace to cast my lot

In the shadow of the glorious cross

Compelled by grace to cast my lot 

I’ll discard the loss and bear your name 

Forsaking all for your own fame

Your hymn of grace sung over me 

Abounding forth in glorious streams 

My thirst is quenched by you my Lord 

Sustained am I redeemed restored 

Sustained am I redeemed restored

Hallelujah, Hallelujah 

When death’s dark shadow’s at my feet

When I am plagued by unbelief 

You place my hands into your side 

By precious blood identified 

By precious blood identified 

Hallelujah, Hallelujah 

These crowns I’ve clenched with fisted hands 

I cast them down before the throne 

Of Christ my God the worthy lamb 

Christ crucified, the Great I AM 

Christ crucified, the Great I AM 

Christ crucified, the Great I AM 

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

[Sojourn, "In the Shadow of the Glorious Cross"]

there's no use living in regret

[JJ Heller, "This Year"]

light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall only work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory

"The good man is happy in whatsoever condition he is in; and that, First, because no worldly evils can do him any real hurt; secondly, because of those advantages, spiritual joys and satisfactions, he enjoys while here; and thirdly, more especially from the joyful hope and certain expectation, of the enjoyment of the perfection of happiness, eternally, hereafter. But, First. Because no worldly evils can do him any real hurt. The good [man] is exalted out of the reach of all worldly evils; they cannot send forth their baneful influences so high as to touch him, and all the hurt they can do him is but as a sharp medicine. Although it be bitter, yet [it] takes away those diseases that would in the end, if they were let alone, be a thousand times more painful and troublesome to him. A good man may look down upon all the whole army of worldly afflictions under his feet with a slight and disregard (that is, as evils, for he ought to have the greatest regard to them as they are for his good), and consider with himself and joy therein that, however great they are and however numerous, let them all join their forces together against him and put on their most rueful and dreadful habits, forms and appearances, and spend all their strength, vigor and violence with endeavors to do him any real hurt or mischief, and it is all in vain. He may triumph over them all knowing this: light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall only work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and, that although sorrow continue for a night, yet joy cometh in the morning: remembering God's promise that all things shall surely work together for his good, and nothing shall offend. If he loses all the worldly good things he has, his estate, friends and relations, or if his body is put to the greatest tortures and pains imaginable, he may consider that it is all best for him that it should be, and that all the hurt they can do him is only to his body. And our Savior has commanded us not to fear them that even kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; and whatever the world does against him, he has that to comfort him, that Christ has overcome the world."

[Jonathan Edwards, from his sermon "Christian Happiness"]

everything is necessary

"Everything is necessary that He sends. Nothing can be necessary that He withholds." 

[John Newton]

we'll find our rest

"And in this Child we’ll find our rest

And all the meek and lowly blessed
An infant tongue could sing the hymn
Of Hallelujah and Amen

Amen, Amen
I've found my life
I've found my life
in Him
Amen, Amen"

[Sojourn Music, "Amen, Amen"]

have confidence to take risks for His name sake

"Obsessing over the future is not how God wants us to live, because showing us the future is not God's way. His way is to speak to us in the Scriptures and transform us by the renewing of our minds. His way is not a crystal ball. His way is wisdom. We should stop asking for God to reveal the future to us and remove all risk from our lives. We should start looking to God and His character and promises- and thereby have confidence to take risks for His name sake."

[Kevin DeYoung]

resistance to the yoke

It is not the yoke, but resistance to the yoke, that makes it heavy. 

[Andrew Murray]

disperse the gloomy clouds of night

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

deserving of life

"Birch trees
Teach me that I am nothing
And that I am deserving of life."

[Muriel Barbery in The Elegance of the Hedgehog]

fantastic blankness and boredom

"My health improved wonderfully in spite or because of all the fantastic blankness and boredom."

[Vladimir Nabakov's Lolita, chapter 9]

let me learn by paradox

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
Thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
Thy stars shine;

Let me find Thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty
Thy glory in my valley.

- Puritan prayer

hope to handle your scars

“Christ’s resurrection not only gives you hope for the future; it gives you hope to handle your scars right now.”

[Tim Keller]

tyranny of workplace identity

“The Sabbath is a declaration of freedom from the tyranny of workplace identity placed on us in culture.” 

[Tim Keller]

soaked with the sense of exile

“Certainly there was an Eden on this very unhappy earth. We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most humane, is still soaked with the sense of ‘exile’.”

[J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Ed. Humphrey Carpenter (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000), 110. Tolkien penned these words in a letter to his son, Christopher Tolkien, on January 30, 1945.]

not with the nature of number

"True, we can reckon with numbers -- but not with the nature of number."

[Martin Heidegger in "...Poetically Man Dwells..."]

full of his qualities is the face of the sky

"What is God? Unknown, yet
Full of his qualities is the
Face of the sky."

[Hölderlin]

kindness it is

"For kindness it is, that ever calls forth kindness."

[Sophocles in Ajax, verse 522)

a frivolous mooning and vaporizing into the unknown...or a part of literature

"Poetry is either rejected as a frivolous mooning and vaporizing into the unknown, and a flight into dreamland, or is counted as a part of literature. And the validity of literature is assessed by the latest prevailing standard. The prevailing standard, in turn, is made and controlled by the organs for making public civilized opinions."

[from "...Poetically Man Dwells..." by Martin Heidegger]

I graduated from St. John's. I'm sad. I don't want it to be over.

 the view from the library

the view from the library

the view from the library

the view from the library

I wonder how many hours I spent in this room.

the mark of the uneducated

"For it is uneducated not to have an eye for when it is necessary to look for a proof and when this is not necessary."

 [Aristotle, Metaphysics Book IV, 1006a)

we do not know what to do

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12

i dare not trust the sweetest frame

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, his covenant, his blood
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found,
dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne.

[Edward Mote, "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less"]

through Your suffering, I am free

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

["Power of the Cross" by Keith Getty and Stuart Towend]

holy, holy, holy

The Bible doesn't say God is "love, love, love," or "grace, grace, grace." The Bible says He is "holy, holy, holy." 

[R.C. Sproul]

every single emotion

"Every single emotion you have should be processed in prayer."

[Tim Keller]

marriage & divorce

"God hates divorce. God loves divorcees."

"Marriage isn't an expression of love. Marriage is an unwavering commitment to love."

[Carlos Montoya, from Blaze Christian Fellowship]

Aristotle proves that the void cannot exist. You go, Glen Coco.

empty sophistry? or an abyss?

"But we are now seeking not the truth of essential nature but the essential nature of truth. There thus appears a curious tangle. Is it only a curiosity or even merely the empty sophistry of a conceptual game, or is it -- an abyss?"

[Martin Heidegger, from "The Origin of the Work of Art"]

reduce to settled order the wandering motions in ourselves

"The god invented and gave us vision in order that we might observe the circuits of intelligence in the heaven and profit by them for the revolutions of our own thought, which are akin to them, though ours be troubled and they are unperturbed; and that, by learning to know them and acquiring the power to compute them rightly according to nature, we might reproduce the perfectly unerring revolutions of the god and reduce to settled order the wandering motions in ourselves." - Timaeus in Plato's Timaeus

Without the eyeball, there is no philosophy!

the mask be torn away

"Yes, it is better to watch a man in doubt
and danger, see what he is when all's gone wrong;
for only then will truth come from the heart,
the mask be torn away, the man remain."

[Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, Book III, Lines 55-58]

all things slowly weaken and fall to ruin

"The aged plowman sighs and shakes his head
again and again -- all that work gone for naught! --
compares the present times with times gone by,
and often remarks how lucky his father was.
Discouraged, the vintner tends his tattered vines,
curses the weather, and prays till heaven is tired;
he growls of an age long gone, when men were good,
and found life easy though their world was small,
and the land that each man held was then far less.
He does not see that all things slowly weaken
and fall to ruin, worn out by ages past."

[Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, Book II, Lines 1164-1174]

the flora and fauna of Santa Fe

  

 

the piety of thinking

"Questioning is the piety of thinking."

[Martin Heidegger]

win your spurs

"Why postpone your good resolution? Up with you, and set about it this instant; tell yourself, 'Now is the time for action; this is zero-hour, just the right moment for making something better of my life.' But you are feeling low, and finding things difficult? Why, that is the very opportunity you want, to win your spurs!"

[Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ]

Did I Miss Anything? Nothing.

"Did I Miss Anything?" by Tom Wayman

Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth.

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered

but it was one place

And you weren’t here

busyness = moral laziness

"Busyness is moral laziness [because it is often a statement of our self-importance and our excuse to be inattentive to people] ... But God has given us just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him. And his grace is there; it is eternally present. Every moment is a sacrament where time touches eternity and there is exactly enough time to dow hat God has called us to do."

[Prof. Bruce Hindmarsh in "You Have Just Enough Time"]

what we have done, not what we have read

"Once a man is integrated, once his inner life becomes simplified, all of a piece, he begins to attain a richer and deeper knowledge -- quite effortlessly, because the intellectual light he receives comes from above. Freedom of heart is his, and simplicity of intention, and fixity of resolve, and he finds that he is no longer distracted by a variety of occupations; he acts, now only for God's glory, and does his best to get rid of all self-seeking. There is no worse enemy to your freedom and your peace of mind than the undisciplined affections of your own heart. Really good and holy people plan out beforehand in their minds how they are  to behave in given circumstances...

But always what we should prize most is a clear conscience, and holiness of life. How is it that there are so many people who put knowledge first, instead of conduct? ... After all, when the day of judgment comes, we shall be examined about what we have done, not about what we have read; whether we have lived conscientiously, not whether we have turned fine phrases."

[from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis]

the darkness was full of morning things

"When he woke up, the darkness was full of morning things."

[from Flannery O'Connor's short story "Wildcat"]

i'll find my own way down, as i should

[Ben Howard, "Oats in the Water"]

such gifts are a terrifying responsibility

"The wider, the more exact your learning, the more severe will be your judgment, if it has not taught you to live holily. No art, no science should make a man proud of possessing it; such gifts are a terrifying responsibility."

[Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ]

i dare not ask to fly from thee

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

[George Matheson]

no readable book

"No readable book is written by one person alone."

[Tim Keller]

his thoughts go for a walk

peace of conscience, peace with God

All her debts were cast on Me,
And she must and shall go free.
All her debts were cast on Me,
And she must and shall go free.

Peace of conscience, peace with God,
We obtain through Jesus’ blood;
Jesus’ blood speaks solid rest;
We believe, and we are blest.
We believe, and we are blest.

Should the law against her roar,
Jesus’ blood still speaks with power,
“All her debts were cast on Me,
And she must and shall go free.
She must and shall go free.

[William Gadsby]

dinner of herbs

"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it." 

[Proverbs 15:17]

I wish I was light / I would shine through this tunnel

["Catch Yer Own Train" by The Silver Seas]

weakness with razzle-dazzle rhetoric

"Simple prose is clear prose. And simple prose, if smooth and rhythmical, is readable prose. Let your ideas alone do the impressing. If they look banal to you, there's only one remedy: upgrade them. Don't try to camouflage their weakness with razzle-dazzle rhetoric. You'll razzle-dazzle yourself right into a bog of bull." John R. Trimble, Writing with Style 30 (2d ed. 2000).

[from Garner's Usage Tip's Quote of the Day]

try and try and try to be simple again

But I'm ain't looking for an easy way out

This whole life it's been about

Try and try and try

And try and try and try

To be simple again

[Songs Ohia, "Just Be Simple"]

He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!

All my life long I had panted for a drink from some cool spring
That I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

Feeding on the filth around me, ‘till my strength was almost gone
Longed my soul for something better, only still to hunger on
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

Poor I was and sought for riches, something that would satisfy
But the dust I gathered ‘round me only mocked my soul’s sad cry
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

Well of water ever springing, Bread of Life so rich and free
Untold wealth that never faileth, my Redeemer is to me
Hallelujah! He has found me, the One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings, through his blood I now am saved

[Clara T. Williams, 1875]

** Download a free version of this hymn at this location.

illusion of self-sufficiency

"God often waits to give a blessing until you have prayed for it. Why? Good things that we do not ask for will usually be interpreted by our hearts as the fruit of our own wisdom and diligence. Gifts from God that are not acknowledged a such are deadly to the south, because they thicken the illusion of self-sufficiency that leads to overconfidence and sets us up for failure." 

[Timothy Keller, Prayer, p. 102]

chasing after what is cheap

"Thus it is that no cruelty whatsoever passes by without impact. Thus it is that we always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap." 

[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]

a slave into a child

To see the law of Christ fulfilled
And hear his pard'ning voice
Transforms a slave into a child
And duty into choice. 

[William Cowper]

no mode of victory but by flight

In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.

This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent's wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us! 

[Charles Spurgeon]

we can go on to peaceableness

"We must set our faces like flints against everything which is contrary to God and His holiness: purity being in our souls a settled matter, we can go on to peaceableness."

 [Charles Spurgeon]

lest that day come upon you suddenly like a trap

"But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

[Luke 21:34-36]

the race that long in darkness pined has seen a glorious light

The race that long in darkness pined
has seen a glorious light;
the people dwell in day, who dwelt
in death's surrounding night. 

To hail thy rise, thou better Sun,
the gathering nations come,
joyous as when the reapers bear
the harvest-treasures home. 

To us a Child of hope is born,
To us a Son is given;
him shall the tribes of earth obey,
him all the hosts of heaven. 

His name shall be the Prince of Peace
for evermore adored,
the Wonderful, the Counsellor,
the great and mighty Lord. 

His power increasing still shall spread,
his reign no end shall know;
justice shall guard his throne above
and peace abound below.

[John Morison, 1781]

but why were they on his property

"Snow"
by David Berman

Walking through a field with my little brother Seth

I pointed to a place where kids had made angels in the snow.
For some reason, I told him that a troop of angels
had been shot and dissolved when they hit the ground.

He asked who had shot them and I said a farmer.




Then we were on the roof of the lake.
The ice looked like a photograph of water.

Why he asked. Why did he shoot them.

I didn't know where I was going with this.

They were on his property, I said.




When it's snowing, the outdoors seem like a room.

Today I traded hellos with my neighbor.
Our voices hung close in the new acoustics.
A room with the walls blasted to shreds and falling.

We returned to our shoveling, working side by side in silence.




But why were they on his property, he asked.

in every way sufficient

"Jesus Christ is in every way sufficient to the vast desires of the human soul." 

[John Flavel]

it is folded, and folded, and folded

There is something in me maybe someday
to be written; now it is folded, and folded,
and folded, like a note in school.

[Sharon Olds]

laundry list of attributes women must have

“But I think the first real change in women’s body image came when JLo turned it butt-style. That was the first time that having a large-scale situation in the back was part of mainstream American beauty. Girls wanted butts now. Men were free to admit that they had always enjoyed them. And then, what felt like moments later, boom—Beyoncé brought the leg meat. A back porch and thick muscular legs were now widely admired. And from that day forward, women embraced their diversity and realized that all shapes and sizes are beautiful. Ah ha ha. No. I’m totally messing with you. All Beyonce and JLo have done is add to the laundry list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful. Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.”

[Tina Fey, Bossy Pants]

dispel with glorious splendour the darkness everywhere

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming,
From tender stem hath sprung.
Of Jesse's lineage coming,
As men of old have sung;
It came, a flow'ret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind,
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind;
To show God's love aright,
She bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

O Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispel with glorious splendour
The darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God,
From sin and death now save us,
And share our every load.

[Theodore Baker, 1894]

the outflowing stream of intelligence

"The mouth was equipped by our makers for its office with teeth, tongue, and lips arranged as now, for the sake at once of what is necessary and what is best. They devised it as the passage whereby necessary things might enter and the best things pass out; for all that comes in to give sustenance to the body is necessary; but the outflowing stream of discourse, ministering to intelligence, is of all streams the best and noblest." 

[Timaeus in Plato's Timaeus, 75e, Translator Francis M. Cornford]

L'inverno

Happy Winter. Listening to this everyday until winter is over.

[Vivaldi, Concerto No.4 in F minor, Op.8, RV 297, " L'inverno", Allegro Non Molto]

i felt a cleaving in my mind

The Lost Thought

I felt a cleaving in my mind
As if my brain had split;
I tried to match it, seam by seam,
But could not make them fit.
The thought behind I strove to join
Unto the thought before,
But sequence ravelled out of reach
Like balls upon a floor.

[Emily Dickinson]

the cure for apathy

"Apathy is one of the characteristic responses of any living organism when it is subjected to stimuli too intense or too complicated to cope with. The cure for apathy is comprehension."

[John Dos Passos]

i am not afraid of the truth

"There is probably no point of view possible to a sane man but contains some truth and, in the true connection, might be profitable to the race. I am not afraid of the truth, if any one could tell it me, but I am afraid of parts of it impertinently uttered."

[Robert Louis Stevenson, Learning to Write 134 (1888; repr. 1920).]

no matter how many waverings you may have

“Trust him. And when you have done that, you are living the life of grace. No matter what happens to you in the course of that trusting - no matter how many waverings you may have, no matter how many suspicions that you have bought a poke with no pig in it, no matter how much heaviness and sadness your lapses, vices, indispositions, and bratty whining may cause you - you believe simply that Somebody Else, by his death and resurrection, has made it all right, and you just say thank you and shut up. The whole slop-closet full of mildewed performances (which is all you have to offer) is simply your death; it is Jesus who is your life. If he refused to condemn you because your works were rotten, he certainly isn't going to flunk you because your faith isn't so hot. You can fail utterly, therefore, and still live the life of grace. You can fold up spiritually, morally, or intellectually and still be safe. Because at the very worst, all you can be is dead - and for him who is the Resurrection and the Life, that just makes you his cup of tea.” 

[Robert Farrar Capon, Between Noon & Three: Romance, Law & the Outrage of Grace]

cast your deadly doing down

Weary, working, burdened one,
Wherefore toil you so?
Cease your doing; all was done
Long, long ago.
Till to Jesus’ work you cling
By a simple faith,
“Doing” is a deadly thing—
“Doing” ends in death.
Cast your deadly “doing” down—
Down at Jesus’ feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete. 

[James Proctor]

crucial eccentricity

"A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There's nothing you have to do.  There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do." 

[Frederick Buechner]

she must and shall go free

Mercy speaks by Jesus' blood
Hear and sing, ye sons of God
Justice satisfied indeed
Christ has full atonement made
Jesus' blood speaks loud and sweet
Here all deity can meet
And without a jarring voice
Welcome Zion to rejoice
All her debts were cast on me
And she must and shall go free
Peace of conscience, peace with God
We obtain through Jesus' blood
Jesus' blood speaks solid rest
We believe and we are blessed
All her debts were cast on me
And she must and shall go free
Should the law against her roar
Jesus' blood still speaks with power
All her debts were cast on me
And she must and shall go free
All her debts were cast on me
And she must and shall go free

[Derek Webb, "Mercy Speaks"]

no maverick molecule

"There is no maverick molecule meandering outside God's control anywhere in the universe..." 

[from Proof: Finding Freedom through the Intoxicating Joy of Irresistible Grace by Daniel Montgomery & Timothy Paul Jones]

unforgiving, unforgiven

"An unforgiving heart is an unforgiven heart." 

[Timothy Keller]

idolorum fabricam

"Hominis ingenium perpetuam, ut ita loquar, esse idolorum fabricam."

"Human nature is, so to speak, a workshop that's continually crafting idols."

[John Calvin, Institutio Christianae Religionis, 1:11:8)

do you think that i count the days?

"Do you think that I count the days? There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk." 

Jean-Paul Sartre

never finished

"A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." 

[Italo Calvino]

comforting judgment

Q&A 52 from the Heidelberg Catechism

Q. How does Christ's return "to judge the living and the dead" comfort you?
A. In all distress and persecution, with uplifted head I confidently await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me.

1 Luke 21:28; Rom. 8:22-25; Phil. 3:20-21; Titus 2:13-14