suddenly the Judge will come

"Suddenly the Judge will come, and the deeds of every man shall be revealed; but in the middle of the night we cry with fear: Holy, Holy, Holy are Thou, O God..."

- from Daily Orthodox Prayers

the new boldness

"(1) God hasn't call you to challenge or change anyone's feelings. Offer presence, not judgment. (2) Better a good listener than an irritating suggester. (3) Humility and gentleness are the new boldness." - Scotty Smith

not the fulfillment of our wish-list

"Father, you have promised sufficient grace, not the fulfillment of our wish-list. You are more committed to making us like Jesus, than making us cozy. In our most Gospel-sane moments, we’re good with that, Father. Give us more of those moments."

[Scotty Smith]

terrible inner turmoil

Repentance is like antiseptic. You pour antiseptic onto a wound and it stings, but it heals. That’s how repentance works. It creates terrible inner turmoil, because you have to admit things you don’t want to admit. - Tim Keller

seen, known, loved

“We tweet, text, Snap, IG, and DM to be seen, known, and loved. Could it be that our worst social media habits are a failure to believe we are seen, known, and loved by our Creator? A digital delirium caused by our unbelief that Psalm 139 is true over me?”

 

—Tony Reinke

he's a liar

"The devil wants you to believe that you're a special kind of wounded. The kind that no one can love and no one can heal. He's a liar. You are loved and Jesus can heal you." -Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP

ask a lot more questions

"I should presume less, offer fewer solutions, and ask a lot more questions. Only when I listen to the pain of others am I able to love across the lines of difference in ways that are helpful and not hurtful." - Scott Sauls

woe is me... for I am lost

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Isaiah 6:5

grow downward

"Pray that this year you may grow downward: that you may know more of your own vileness, more of your own nothingness, and so be rooted in humility." - Charles Spurgeon

the people dwell in day, who dwelt in death's surrounding night

"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 the reaper bears
The harvest treasures home.

Unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a King,
Unto us a Child is born
Unto us a King

His name shall be the Prince of Peace,
Forevermore adored,
The Wonderful, the Counselor,
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."

Original lyrics: John Morison (approximately 1781)
Variations and modern version by Alex Barrett

emptied himself of his glory

The fact that God became human and emptied himself of his glory means that you should not want to hang out only with the people with power and glitz, who are networked and can open doors for you.

You need to be willing to go to the people without power, without beauty, without money. That is the Christmas spirit, because God became one of us.

[Tim Keller]

the baby in my womb leaped for joy

Luke 1:41-44


And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.'"


Art: Circa 13th Century. Mary Visits Elizabeth.

the 20 percent

If someone is criticizing you and the criticism is mostly mistaken, identify the 20 percent of the indictment that is fair. Without excuse be willing to take it to heart. The strongest Christians are the ones most willing to repent. - Tim Keller

bows low and offers praise

In we shuffle, hooded amplitudes,
scapulared brooms, a stray earring, skin-heads
and flowing locks, blind in one eye,
hooked-nosed, handsome as a prince
(and knows it), a five-thumbed organist,
an acolyte who sings in quarter tones,
one slightly swollen keeper of the bees,
the carpenter minus a finger here and there,
our pre-senile writing deathless verse,
a stranded sailor, a Cassian scholar,
the artist suffering the visually
illiterate and indignities unnamed,
two determined liturgists. In a word,
eager purity and weary virtue.
Last of all, the Lord Abbot, early old
(shepherding the saints is like herding cats).
These chariots and steeds of Israel
make a black progress into church.
A rumble of monks bows low and offers praise
to the High God of Gods who is faithful forever. 

[Kilian McDonnell, "The Monks of St. John's File in for Prayer"]

a deep abyss

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss, at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. -Honore de Balzac, novelist (1799-1850)

55 Maxims of the Christian Life by Fr. Thomas Hopko

1. Be always with Christ and trust God in everything.
2. Pray as you can, not as you think you must.
3. Have a keepable rule of prayer done by discipline.
4. Say the Lord's Prayer several times each day.
5. Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied.
6. Make some prostrations when you pray.
7. Eat good foods in moderation and fast on fasting days.
8. Practice silence, inner and outer.
9. Sit in silence 20 to 30 minutes each day.
10. Do acts of mercy in secret.
11. Go to liturgical services regularly.
12. Go to confession and holy communion regularly.
13. Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings.
14. Reveal all your thoughts and feelings to a trusted person regularly.
15. Read the scriptures regularly.
16. Read good books, a little at a time.
17. Cultivate communion with the saints.
18. Be an ordinary person, one of the human race.
19. Be polite with everyone, first of all family members.
20. Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
21. Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
22. Exercise regularly.
23. Live a day, even a part of a day, at a time.
24. Be totally honest, first of all with yourself.
25. Be faithful in little things.
26. Do your work, then forget it.
27. Do the most difficult and painful things first.
28. Face reality.
29. Be grateful.
30. Be cheerful.
31. Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
32. Never bring attention to yourself.
33. Listen when people talk to you.
34. Be awake and attentive, fully present where you are.
35. Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
36. Speak simply, clearly, firmly, directly.
37. Flee imagination, fantasy, analysis, figuring things out.
38. Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
39. Don't complain, grumble, murmur or whine.
40. Don't seek or expect pity or praise.
41. Don't compare yourself with anyone.
42. Don't judge anyone for anything.
43. Don't try to convince anyone of anything.
44. Don't defend or justify yourself.
45. Be defined and bound by God, not people.
46. Accept criticism gracefully and test it carefully.
47. Give advice only when asked or when it is your duty.
48. Do nothing for people that they can and should do for themselves.
49. Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
50. Be merciful with yourself and others.
51. Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
52. Focus exclusively on God and light, and never on darkness, temptation and sin.
53. Endure the trial of yourself and your faults serenely, under God's mercy.
54. When you fall, get up immediately and start over.
55. Get help when you need it, without fear or shame.

we're frightened of ordinariness

"The Desert Father’s called this the demon of Acedia – that raging desire to escape from the ordinary. Acedia was described as a state of listlessness, leading to a state of being unable to place value on what is embarrassingly ordinary. The demon of Acedia holds an important place in early monastic psychology. The Desert Father John Cassian observed this heart sickness that would come over monks who lived dwelling on an “ideal” all day. It made them have increasing disdain and reduced commitment to the everyday discipleship with their brethren. I’ll say it again…we’re frightened of ordinariness." - Dan White Jr.

how to completely depend on God

It is only when you reach the very bottom, when everything falls apart, when all your schemes and resources are broken and exhausted, that you are finally open to learning how to completely depend on God. As is often said, you never realize that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. You must lose your life to find your life (Matthew 10: 39).

[Tim Keller]

vemödalen

disconcerted by nothing

“Who is the invincible human being? One who can be disconcerted by nothing that lies outside the sphere of choice.” - Epictetus

to heal you

“Remember the one who has ridiculed you, who has grieved you, who has wronged you, who has done evil to you, as your physician, your healer. Christ sent him to heal you; don’t remember him with anger.” - Abba Zossima

the root of all heartache

Expectation is the root of all heartache.

it is ruinous; repair it

“Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge it, that You may enter in. It is ruinous; repair it. It must offend Your eyes; I confess and know it. But who shall cleanse it? Or to whom should I cry, except to You? Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults, and spare Your servant from the power of the enemy. I believe, and therefore do I speak.” - Augustine

love me there

“Crawl inside this body.
Find me where I am most ruined.
Love me there.”

- Rune Lazuli

hand and eye

“The husband and wife should be like the hand and eye. When the hand hurts, the eyes should be crying, and when the eyes cry, the hand should wipe away the tears.” - St. John Chrysostom

become a Pharisee

"Fastest way to become a Pharisee is to hate Pharisees." - Tim Keller

repentance is the way to peace

“Repentance is hard. Repentance is painful. Repentance is difficult. But it’s the only way to get peace.” - Tim Keller

what you love

“The Augustinian point is that you are defined by what you love. It’s your loves that govern your action and pursuits. Indeed, you are more defined by what you love than what you think or know or believe.” - James K.A. Smith

goodness, truth, beauty

“Look after goodness and truth, and beauty will take care of herself.” - Eric Gill

distract themselves

"When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure." - Viktor Frankl

esteem for silence

"There are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence." - Rule of St. Benedict (6:2)

means nothing to me

“Your approval means nothing to me, because I know you don’t have God’s love within you."

[John 5:41-42]

regard our humility

I have never put my hope in any other

but in Thee, God of Israel

who canst show both wrath and graciousness,

and who absolves all the sins

of man in suffering

Lord God,

Creator of Heaven and Earth

Regard our humility

- "Spem in Alium" by Thomas Tallis

i can hear the flowers a-growing

"So, while you sit and whistle Dixie
With your money and your power
I can hear the flowers a-growing
In the rubble of the towers
I hear leaders quit their lyin'
I hear babies quit their cryin'
I hear soldiers quit their dyin'
One and all"

["I Hear Them All" by Old Crow Medicine Show]

meddling, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable

"Marcus Aurelius started each day telling himself: ‘I shall meet with meddling, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable people.'"

- from "Why Stoicism is One of the Best Mind Hacks Ever Devised" by Lary Wallace

their view of things

"People are disturbed not by things but by their view of things." - Epictetus

rather give alms of such things that are within

"Do you think it is enough to wash your hands before eating? There is a surer means. Let some poor man partake of your meats and wines." - Godot

"But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you." - Luke 11:41

nonchalant toward sin

Have you become nonchalant toward sin in your life because you say, “God is love”? God DOES love you, and that is why he will not support you in living apart from him.

[Tim Keller]

Sorry for all the Keller quotes.

to be ready for suffering

"The mark of wisdom is to be ready for suffering. If you aren’t, you aren’t competent with regard to the realities of life. But suffering is also a discipline for growth in wisdom. It can drive you toward God into greater love and strength or away from him into hardness of heart."

[Tim Keller]

When people edit their sentences because they know your stance on the Oxford comma.

I love my sister. She understands me.

The Soul Saving Station on Dodds Avenue in Chattanooga, Tennessee

God, you need not send
Me to hell cause here on earth
For the short lives of thousands upon thousands
Gravitate towards my hearth
Each one single file
Skipping to its home sweet home
Backwards down the aisle
Of my throat where the Church of Rome
Sends its grave petitions
To the wake in my lungs
Pleading with the clowns and the magicians
To stop the dance on my tongue
That keeps the millions from being embraced
‘Cause they should be bathing in tomato soup
Outside the camp, heads shaved with shame
But instead they're napping on my spleen
Unaware of the day when my body will fold
Still I'll befriend them in their dreams
And ignore the doubts I never told

your relentless quest for your own meaning

I am reading NT Wright's book Justification. I struggle with assurance of salvation, and a book about justification seems apropos. I'm barely into it, and I am learning so much already.

I want to take some time to summarize some of his main points that I found interesting.

So far Wright has mentioned the Reformers, a tradition of which I am a part of (Disclaimer: I love my church) several times. Apparently, Wright stated that John Piper suggested that he was doing away with a tradition that has lasted centuries. Because Wright questions the Reformed doctrine of "imputed righteousness," he is forsaking tradition, which is so interesting to me that Piper would even bring up tradition in their conversations. Why is it okay that the Reformers -- Luther, Calvin, et al -- questioned the traditions of the Roman Catholic church, and yet we cannot question the traditions of the Reformers?

Wright says, "The greatest honor we can pay the Reformers is not to treat them as infallible -- they would be horrified at that -- but to do as they did." What he is referring to is the intensive spiritual disciplines: "to soak myself in the Bible, in the Hebrew and Aramaic Old Testament and the Greek New Testament, to get it into my bloodstream every means possible, in the prayer and hope that I would be able to teach Scripture afresh to the church and the world."

And again, "Wise later readers will honor them, but not canonize them., by thinking through their statements afresh in the light of Scripture itself."

II

Another issue Wright brings up is our tendency to read our questions into Scripture, when the Scripture is talking entirely about something else!

It reminds me of one of the several memes (coming from my own Reformed circle, no less):

Wright states, "If you read your own questions into the text, and try to get an answer from it, when the text itself is talking about something else, you run the risk not only of hearing only the echo of your own voice rather than the word of God but also of missing the key point that the text was actually eager to tell you, and which you have brushed aside in your relentless quest for your own meaning." 

Wow. Talk about a whack in the head (my head). This was a wake-up call to me. I wonder how often I do this. I come to the Bible searching for answers to my questions, but if I eeny-meeny-miny-mo the Bible, I can't expect to find God speaking to me -- to my exact situation with all of its unique, minute details. Context, context, context. But any Reformed person would say that too. 

Wright states (I have to keep saying "states" because "Wright writes" just sounds silly), "[It] is vital (within any Christian theology, and, indeed within good hermeneutical practice on many corpus of texts) to allow one writing to illuminate another."

The vibe I got was that he seems to think this is more uncommon than common. And maybe it is, but not in my tradition. Even as a kid, I can still remember my dad (a then Baptist pastor) saying that we use Scripture to interpret Scripture, which seems to me to be exactly what Wright just said above.

But one thing that is different is that he does address a teaching that is held tightly by the Reformed tradition. It is the belief that when Paul is talking about the law, he is including our efforts to gain good standing with God through moral achievement (as opposed to the laws regarding Jewish ceremonial customs, which is what Wright holds to -- as far as I understand it at least). For more info on that debate, you can read an overview at Ye Olde Source of Wisdom As Long As It Provides Reliable Sources -- Wikipedia.

But as much as I would like to keep reading and writing, I need to go do some cleaning.

Maybe I'll keep this up. Maybe I won't. We shall see.

But hey, it was an actual blog post and not just a quote.

Either way, writing felt good to my soul tonight.

the stone of research

"There are those who ask for the bread of insight and are given instead the stone of research."


[a paraphrased statement by Ben F. Meyer]

a deeper security

"Trouble can take anything away from you except God. Therefore, if God is to you a greater safety, a deeper security, and a more powerful hope than anything else in the world, you fear no trouble."

[Tim Keller]

playing with the photo editor

I have been using a photo editing program called Affinity, and I've been experimenting with the many different features. I had to share this photo of my husband with his deformed hand. Doesn't it look real?* 😂

* He has two normal hands.

Also, I am going to have so much fun with this editing program.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

[John Donne]

without anger or quarreling

"I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling." 1 Timothy 2:8

At home, at work, in Congress...

what's it worth

"The sunlight claps the earth, and the moonbeams kiss the sea: what are all these kissings worth, if thou kiss not me?"

[Percy Bysshe Shelley]

a lump in the throat

"A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness."

[Robert Frost]

a thousand times

"I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once."

[Thomas Wolfe]

July 9, 1937: On this day, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a letter to Thomas Wolfe, advising his fellow author to write shorter novels. Wolfe responded with a letter eight times as long as Fitzgerald's.

in search of a bird

"I am a cage in search of a bird."

[Franz Kafka]

I love him.

spinning

This week, the world is spinning.

He will hurt deeply

"Whom God would use greatly, He will hurt deeply." 

[A. W. Tozer]

Jesus wasn't omni-liked

"When we crave being liked by all, we desire something God doesn’t even possess. Jesus certainly wasn’t omni-liked. In fact, omni-acceptance goes against the grain of the provocative message of Jesus." - Rusty McKie

perpetual conflict

“We cannot imagine any certainty that is not tinged with doubt, or any assurance that is not assailed by some anxiety. . . . Believers are in perpetual conflict with their own unbelief." [John Calvin]

Kidisms

Frances (age 6): "My favorite color is green...and turquoise and magenta."
Madeline (age 4): "My favorite colors are all the colors of the rainbow."

Sermon Notes | Colossians 1:1-8 | Your location is in Christ.

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit."

[Colossians 1:1-8]

* faith, hope, love = trifecta of the gospel

Colossians cuts through the noise and tells us what everything's really all about.

The phrase "in Christ" is used 38 times in Colossians.

What are you centering your life on? Jesus is the only worthwhile one we should orbit around.

The truest thing about you is that you're in Christ. This changes everything.

How much can others see that the gospel is changing you? Are you a hopeful person? Do you find yourself distrusting Jesus and others? The gospel frees us to hope, to love, to trust, to have faith.

Jesus might call you to give up certain comforts.
Hospitality means you might give up your comfort to make others feel more comfortable.

The good life is a Person.
Your location is in Christ.

my strength of soul

"On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased."

[Psalm 138:3]

the truth shall make you mad

"You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you mad."

[Aldous Huxley]

on the way to the cross

"Even if our own troubles are great, we should still serve. Jesus washed His disciples feet on the way to the cross.”

[Tim Keller]

On the Paucity of Pat Answers

Many people think Christianity gives a lot of pat answers. It really does the opposite. Lately, I've noticed how cryptic some of Jesus' sayings are and how his sermons seem to be a series of non sequiturs. He doesn't use the three-point sermon model; no, He is not that clear. The paucity of pat answers in the Bible complicates things and challenges my thinking. It is mysterious, confusing, and complex. And there are no simple answers, as much as I would like there to be. By faith, I believe the Bible is divinely inspired, which is why I haven't given up trying to understand difficult passages or uncomfortable ideas. In between the famous Judge Not paragraph and the Golden Rule paragraph sits something just as powerful but more often neglected. "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Asking, seeking, and knocking involve much more proactivity than simple pat answers do. It takes effort to wrestle with God, with questions, and with truth.

beautiful Russian Orthodox choral music

just a blip

I have Jesus.

Everything else is a blip in the scope of eternity.

peace in unemployment

"O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore."

[Psalm 131]

God is the director of HR.
My soul can be calm and quiet.

the quiet and the lengthy

"Love is the quiet and the lengthy, not the noisy and the spectacular."

[Tim Keller]

not half so restrained

"The ungodly are not half so restrained in their blasphemy as we are in our praise."

[Charles Spurgeon]

death wrapped in shiny wrappers

"Our sinful hearts are quick to purchase death wrapped in the shiny wrappers of our lusts."

[Erik Raymond]

the person they are growing into

"When looking for a spouse, you should be looking at the person they are growing into as much as the person they are today."

[Tim Keller]

a man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God

"A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones...."

[Charles Darwin from The Autobiography of Charles Darwin]

but also not with their own good

"Who is pure in heart? Only those who have completely given their hearts to Jesus, so that he alone rules in them. Only those who do not stain their hearts with their own evil, but also not with their own good. A pure heart is the simple heart of a child, who does not know about good and evil, the heart of Adam before the fall, the heart in which the will of Jesus rules instead of one’s own conscience.… A pure heart is pure of good and evil; it belongs entirely and undivided to Christ; it looks only to him, who goes on ahead. Those alone will see God who in this life have looked only to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Their hearts are free of defiling images; they are not pulled back and forth by the various wishes and intentions of their own. Their hearts are fully absorbed in seeing God. They will see God whose hearts mirror the image of Jesus Christ."

[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]

"There is no greater misery than false joys."

[Bernard of Clairvaux]

balm of hurt minds

Sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.

[William Shakespeare]

everything depends on the heart, on you

"Goods are given to us to be used, but not to be stored away. Just as Israel in the desert received manna daily from God and did not have to worry about food and drink, and just as the manna which was stored from one day for another rotted, so should Jesus’ disciples receive their share daily from God. But if they store it up as lasting treasure, they will spoil both the gift and themselves. The heart clings to collected treasure. Stored–up possessions get between me and God. Where my treasure is, there is my trust, my security, my comfort, my God. Treasure means idolatry.

But where is the boundary between the goods I am supposed to use and the treasure I am not supposed to have? If we turn the statement around and say, What your heart clings to is your treasure, then we have the answer. It can be a very modest treasure; it is not a question of size. Everything depends on the heart, on you. If I continue to ask how can I recognize what my heart clings to, again there is a clear and simple answer: everything which keeps you from loving God above all things, everything which gets between you and your obedience to Jesus is the treasure to which your heart clings."

[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]

go placidly

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

[Max Ehrmann, 1927]

many such things are in his mind

For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. 

[Job 23:14]

excellent job security

"Tortured souls are excellent job security for therapists." - paraphrased from a friend

to do all the things you'd like to do

"The only way to do all the things you'd like to do is to read."

[Tom Clancy]

all of it flowing towards You

My life has been one long secret,
All of it flowing towards you:
Lost hopes, hidden love, everything
A way to whisper in your ear.
Whatever else you are,
You are also the coolness of that dust
Which lies quietly under the long shadows
Of my small hedge.

[Rabindranath Tagore]

Unwritten Cultural Laws of a Kindergarten Classroom

1. Everything is a state of emergency. Everything.

2. If your daily helper responsibility is door opener or line leader, do all that you can to fulfill your duties, including pushing and hitting others so that they do not try to usurp your responsibility.

3. Narrate your life to your teacher. It’s a well-known fact that teachers want — nay, need -- to be informed of your every action at all times. Once you complete a task, such as putting the purple crayon back into your box, you must notify the teacher.

4. Your teacher is the final arbiter in any dispute within the classroom. If you know the jumbo-sized pencil is yours and your best friend who found it doesn’t know, tell your teacher first before you let your best friend know that it’s yours.

5. To avoid bladder infections, go to the bathroom at least ten times a day.

6. If your pencil is sharpened, it probably needs to be sharpened.

7. If your best friend’s pencil is sharpened, your pencil probably needs to be sharpened.

8. Screaming burns calories, and our teachers want us to be healthy.

9. If you see any grown-up in your school that even looks remotely like a teacher (key characteristics including but not limited to female, black pants, frenetic gait), you have the right to hug that person.

10. Your teacher needs to know that you love her. Hug her at least 20 times a day. If you haven’t met your quota for hugs and you remember you need to give her hugs, do so immediately. Your teacher won’t mind if it’s in the middle of the math lesson or during story time.

the secret is Christ in me

"The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances."

[Elisabeth Elliot]

furnace of doubt

"It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt." - Fyodor Dostoevsky

dearly beloved, we gather together

be still

less about our lamentable inability to be heard than our inherent flawed condition

"Just One God" by Deborah Cummins

And so many of us.
How can we expect Him
to keep track of which voice
goes with what request.
Words work their way skyward.
Oh Lord, followed by petition —
for a cure, the safe landing.
For what is lost, missing —
a spouse, a job, the final game.
Complaint cloaked as need —
the faster car, porcelain teeth.
That so many entreaties
go unanswered
may say less about our lamentable
inability to be heard
than our inherent flawed condition.

Why else, at birth, the first sound
we make, that full-throttled cry?
Of want, want, want.
Of never enough. Desire
as embedded in us as the ancestral tug
in my unconscienced dog who takes
to the woods, nose to the ground, pulled far
from domesticated hearth, bowl of kibble.
Left behind, I go about my superior business,
my daily ritual I could call prayer.

But look, this morning, in my kitchen,
I’m not asking for more of anything.
My husband slices bread,
hums a tune from our past.
Eggs spatter in a skillet.
Wands of lilac I stuck in a glass
by the open window wobble
in a radiant and — dare I say it?—
merciful light.

the ear of sovereign grace attends the mourner's prayer

Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face, 

And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner's prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there

Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet...

[Anne Steele]

metaphysical intuitions

"Welch takes from her mountain and Southern sources a set of metaphysical intuitions. We are not made for satisfaction. To be a person is often to feel exiled, alone, and predestined. These axioms of Appalachian Protestantism, which you can hear in songs like the Stanley Brothers’ 'Rank Stranger,' are the fixations of Welch’s 'The Harrow & The Harvest' (2011), her fourth and most recent album, whose master theme is fatalism. 'The way that it goes,' 'the way that it ends,' and 'the way it will be' are some of the refrains, and the music feels like being caught in a slow-moving but irresistible force, maybe just the temperamental force of what Welch calls being 'blessed with a dark turn of mind.' The predestination here is to perennially reckon with unruly and obdurate feeling: people cannot help what moves them, what makes them feel alive. Morphine, 'soldier’s joy,' and heroin pop up frequently in Welch’s songwriting, and, like other motifs, feel as much symbolic as literal. The sense of fate in her mature songwriting resembles the feeling of addiction: a blurred line between desires and needs, pleasure and enervation, what feeds you and what consumes you."
 

[from Jedediah Purdy's "Twenty Years of Listening to Gillian Welch"]

laying hold of His willingness

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?