Ex Libris

Hello, 2012

2012-02-29T21:13:00.000-06:00

When mom is gone for the week, it is the perfect opportunity for pets
to develop their taste for eau de toilette.

To quell any fears that I am fast becoming the crazy cat lady who posts pictures of her "children" on her blog, why don't we start this post with a little chat about the presidential election? I read somewhere that in the last three years, Obama has spent more money than all the previous presidents combined. I don't care whether you're a Democrat or Republican or independent or whatever, that kind of thing simply shouldn't go on. The most charitable explanation I can think of for this behavior is a nasty case of naivete. And when thinking of the type of person that ought to be ruling a country, "naive" is usually not an adjective that comes to mind. So who are our alternatives?

Gingrich. 'nuff said.
Santorum. Too big government.
Paul. This kind of thing is responsible for making me lean libertarian, but I can't shake the feeling that he is a little too - there's that word again! - naive about Islam in the Middle East.
Romney. Romneycare!

Notice the predicament. I'm that over-eager, first-time voter who is more than ready to take advantage of her constitutional right, but there is nobody I feel quite comfortable voting for. What am I to do? (queue violin music)

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Anyways, tomorrow it will be exactly three months until I am done with high school........forever. In honor of this, I would like to make a few remarks about seniors. This year, as I have ~~been forced to get a life~~ gotten a job, and in my own observations amongst my friends, I have come to the conclusion that we are unable to talk about anything but college. We compare ACT/SAT test scores, memorize the Best Colleges in America lists, weigh the pros and cons of different majors, become experts on the FAFSA, and relentlessly hit up everybody around us for letters of recommendation. I'm actually having a hard time remembering what I used to talk about with people. I've never come across a demographic that was so marvelously one-track-minded. It's like we all wander around in a trance chanting mantras like "Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell....." over and over and over again. But I'm not complaining; it's actually improved my social life - I'm naturally a rather reserved person, but now I have endless stores of things to talk about whenever I meet someone new. Fascinating stuff.

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This year, I've been in an AP Western Civilization class that meets in a homeschooling family's home around here. The teacher is awesome - after being there 10 minutes, you know that he is passionate about what he's teaching. I always make sure I have a notebook and pen with me, because without fail, he ends up saying something hilarious each class (the best part is that it's not always intentional).

Several weeks ago, we were on the French Revolution. In the middle of talking about the Tennis Court Oath, he exclaims, "It was like Occupy the tennis court!"

BEST CLASS EVER.

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I have already mentioned my new-found love for P.G. Wodehouse here, but I'm afraid I will have to do so again. Anybody who can write a description like this will have my allegiance forever:

"How it happened, I couldn't tell you to this day, but I once got engaged to his daughter, Honoria, a ghastly dynamic exhibit who read Nietzsche and had a laugh like waves breaking on a stern and rock-bound coast. The fixture was scratched owing to events occuring which convinced the old boy that I was off my napper; and since then he has always had my name at the top of the list of 'Loonies I have Lunched With.'"

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Now, if you'll excuse me. Harvard, Princeton, Yale.......

Long day

2012-01-31T22:53:00.000-06:00

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And has shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin—O the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend;
"Even so"—it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

Goodbye, 2011

2011-12-31T16:19:00.000-06:00

O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed in Thy presence,
in Thy service, to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,
sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
to supply every thought,
speak in every word,
direct every step,
prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire
to show forth Thy praise;
testify Thy love,
advance Thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with Thee, O Father as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning,
my ear open to Thy calls,
my heart full of love,
my soul free.

Give me Thy grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear by my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.

How's that for business?

2011-11-30T13:58:00.001-06:00

Highlighting America's pragmatism from the beginning:

The first American painters were generally self-taught portrait or sign painters. Their work was flat, sharply outlined, and lacking in focal point. Portraiture was, not surprisingly, the most sought-after art form, since politics stressed respect for the individual. Itinerant limners, as early painters were called, painted faceless single or group portraits in the winter and, in spring, sought customers and filled in the blanks.

(The Annotated Mona Lisa p. 72)

Oh, the possibilities for today. Haha.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T00:54:00.001-06:00

Thou Great and Only Potentate,
Thou hast made summer and winter,
day and night;
each of these revolutions serves our welfare
and is full of Thy care and kindness.
Thy bounty is seen
in the relations that train us,
the laws that defend us,
the homes that shelter us,
the food that builds us,
the raiment that comforts us,
the continuance of our health, members, senses, understanding, memory, affection, will.
But as the stars fade before the rising sun,
Thou hast eclipsed all these benefits
in the wisdom and grace that purposed
redemption by Jesus Thy son.
Blessed be Thy mercy that laid help on
one that is mighty and willing,
one that is able to save to the uttermost.
Make us deeply sensible of our need of His saving grace,
of the blood that cleanses,
of the rest He has promised.
And impute to us that righteousness which
justifies the guilty,
gives them a title to eternal life,
and possession of the Spirit.
May we love the freeness of salvation,
and joy in its holiness;
Give us faith to grasp Thy promises,
that are our hope,
provide for every exigency,
and prevent every evil;
Keep our hearts from straying after forbidden pleasures;
May Thy will bind all our wishes;
Let us live out of the world as to its spirit, maxim, manners,
but live in it as the sphere of our action and usefulness;
May we be alive to every call of duty,
accepting without question
Thy determination of our circumstances and our service.

The Valley of Vision - "Bounty"

Brilliant

2011-11-15T14:03:00.001-06:00

Shakespearean Insults

Happy Reformation Day!

2011-10-31T22:40:00.000-05:00

Post Tenebras Lux

2 things (photo edition)

2011-10-14T18:54:00.000-05:00

1. Oh, America. No comment necessary.

2. I was at the library, and discovered they have Rob Bell's Love Wins. After reading for a while, I came across this:

Whoever thought to put a Ray Comfort tract in there is brilliant! hahahaha!

Going insane is busy work

2011-09-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, and I miss this little forgotten blog. Here are my excuses for not writing on here -

I got a job at my library. It is the best job ever. God is good to me.
My usual load of self-inflicted, insanity-producing schoolwork. Somewhere along the road I decided to shake things up this year and do 2 history courses simultaneously, one being AP. Why, you ask? Why not? I answer.
I'm officially taking over the library at my church, now that I'm a hotshot working at a real library and all. The colleges are going to think I'M SO COOL!!!!
Applying to college and every club in sight
Cramming homework for our homeschool co-op the day it's due and then hijacking class conversations with rhapsodies of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. No, I'm not obsessed. (blinking eyes and twitching head)

But leaving such bleak business aside, guess what? I have found a new beloved author to adore! And who might that be?

P.G. Wodehouse!

I never gave the short story genre a second glance because it seemed impossible to weave a satisfying story together in 25 pages. And maybe that's true when it comes to the drama department, but not so with comedy. The plot of each story is hilariously brilliant, and from a historical standpoint, all the British slang from the late teens and early 20's is fun to read. After reading just one of these stories, you will forever live in awe of Jeeves the Butler.

Somehow Autumn snuck up and surprised me. Are those trees really changing? Reader, the best time of the year is upon us. Enter cornmazes, bonfires and mums. And Reformation Day. And Thanksgiving. And discounted Halloween candy.

Obsession

2011-08-31T15:52:00.000-05:00

So today I discovered how to write a sonnet, and, being me, I wanted to try it out myself (mistake #1). After about a minute's deliberation of what to write about, it hit me - of course I was destined to start my poetic career by turning my favorite novel into a sonnet! (mistake # 2) After hours of grueling work trying find words that rhyme with "gallAHNT" and cursing iambic pentameter, I got so cracked up by what I created that I have decided to post it here for my your entertainment. (undoubtedly mistake # 3) So without further ado, I give you,

Sense and Sensibility Condensed into 14 Lines

To Devon came two sisters father-lost
   The first, of in-law's modest brother fond,
   Was wise and kind; the second, passion-toss'd,
   To be a true Romantic daily long'd.
The younger girl a pair of suitors gain'd:
   Laconic Col'nel and urbane gallant.
   The elder sister by a tale was pain'd -
   Her beau an ill engagement long had got.
The suave hero was found to be a rake -
   It nearly killed the jilted girl; meanwhile
   Shy Edward lost, for revok'd birthright's sake,
   His vain fiance to his brother's pile.
He wed Elinor at last - happy man -
   And Colonel Brandon won his Marianne.

Hahahahhahahaha!

Well howbout that...

2011-08-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

Today, back in 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius erupted. (Today must have been a dreadfully unlucky day for the Romans, because later, in 410, the city got sacked.) You know you're fascinated.

Acting up again in 1858

AAAND, in 1456, Gutenberg finished printing the first printed Bible. How cool is that?

On the importance of possessing a homeschooler in your neighborhood

2011-08-11T20:49:00.000-05:00

With the school year just around the corner, a certain school-related story keeps emerging in my memory.

Several years ago, when I must have been in 6th or 7th grade, an unusual thing happened on an ordinary school day. (Assuming there are ordinary homeschooling days.) My mom was on the phone with my uncle while my sister and I were doing schoolwork in the living room. Important nota bene - "doing schoolwork" in the authoress's world - especially back then - involves equal parts of working on assignment and staring out window. I tell myself that the latter facilitates thinking, therefore improving the former.

Keep working? Look out window?

In one of my reveries, I noticed a guy walk up a side street and turn down ours. The first thing I noticed about him was that he seemed to appear out of nowhere. No mode of transportation - not even the bus which stops on the corner. He just appeared. Also unusual was his general mien. His clothes had seen better days and maybe could have used a spin in the washing machine. The one item he carried was a soda, presumably from McDonalds and huge enough to make Abby Sciuto proud. And then there was this odd bounce in his step which was slightly comic but also unsettling to watch. Overall, this mysterious character seemed out of place in my neighborhood, and naturally, I was fascinated.

I had pretty much forgotten about my schoolwork as soon as I saw this guy, and at that moment the sole purpose of my existence was to see where he would go. Imagine my surprise when he walked up to one of our neighbor's driveways. This particular neighbor - we'll call them the Smiths because I don't know how to spell their last name - is a very kind couple; the husband, for example, is always plowing out our driveway in the winter. Really nice people. What was this random guy doing at their house? I think this is where I told Mary to come look. As we watched him go up the driveway, we realized to our horror that he was going for their car. Just like that, he got it open, started it, and drove off. He didn't even seem to notice that the alarm was going off.

Disturbingly similar to our reaction

When it hit us what just happened, we started screaming bloody murder. SCREAMING. Mary ran off to the office to get my mom, who frantically got off the phone with our uncle. For a moment we sat there in confusion until we remembered that calling 911 is the standard procedure in these cases. After that was done, we went across the street to see what the Smith's neighbor had seen. Apparently she hadn't noticed anything, because she was rather shocked when we told her. Then she told us that the Smiths were on vacation that week. The nerve of this guy!

After our minds began to clear, Faye, the neighbor, decided to call and tell the Smiths what happened. When it came to describing the perpetrator, she relied on my mom, who relied on Mary & I, for the description. It went something like this: "Patty's here and she says he looked sorta rough like a wanderer......kind of shabby......like a homeless guy. A....derelict. What? Really? Ohhh." As soon as she got off the phone, she explained the last part of the conversation.

This unscrupulous, creepy, homeless guy turned out to be Mrs. Smith's brother who had come for their car so he could pick them up at the airport. And my mom had just called him a derelict to his sister's face.

You'd better believe it

When we were walking home in shame, the cops finally pulled up. Great response time. Later that week, Mr. Smith, apparently in gratitude for our nosiness, gave us $10 in Culvers coupons. He had discovered the moral of the story: It pays to have homeschoolers living in your neighborhood.

I love this guy

2011-07-19T11:09:00.002-05:00

Being a bit of an art history aficionado, I'll occasionally find myself staring at random pictures for extended amounts of time. It's almost never to admire the composition or the brilliance of the symbolism like someone who just called herself an "art history aficionado" ought to be doing. No, I'm usually just fascinated by what the people inside it are up to.

Marriage a la Mode is a series of paintings by the English artist William Hogarth ridiculing standard aristocratic marriages of the day. The second painting in the series shows a married couple the morning after an all-night party:

Notice that guy in the left-hand corner?

Is his facial expression not awesome? One look at him and you know exactly what he's thinking. How many times have we all felt the same way? You can't not sympathize with him. I just love it.

On the myth called 'Summer Vacation'

2011-07-18T16:48:00.004-05:00

They say that long ago, in the mists of ancient history, a certain practice was widely observed in early western culture. The story goes that in the summer months, children would lay aside their school books and devote their summers to climbing trees, chasing the ice cream man, swimming in the lake (or if they were lucky, the pool), capturing fireflies, and reading the occasional adventure story when it rained. Of course, as in all myths, the long-established order had its adversaries and a hallmark of the time was the Olympian-v-Titan-esque battles between the children and their parents. These parents, armed with chores and schedules, were part of the school of philosophy that taught that "The unstructured life is not worth living." To this day, it isn't certain exactly who won, as archaeologists constantly unearth evidence that supports both sides.

When I was little, I was one of the many who believed in this legend. Similar to the story of Santa Claus, it is taught by parents and teachers to children everywhere. And, like the Santa legend, when a child reaches a certain age he is subjected to the rude awakening that the story he has been told all his life by everyone he trusted was, in fact, a lie. Delaying this revelation until high school only makes it more painful.

Such has been my fate. My days are filled with extra studying, college visiting, transcript making, library organizing, and blog-neglecting. Hopefully the craziness will die down soon and I can start blogging a little more regularly again. I miss writing and the way it stretches my brain. However, I have started reading Knowing God and love it. There will probably be a related post forthcoming. :-)

Of the dread SAT and its aftermath - a rant

2011-06-16T23:51:00.001-05:00

So on the 4th I took the SAT, and my brain, in reaction to the trauma it experienced in being forced to use solely its left side for 4.5 hours, revolted and allowed me the use of only the right side the following week. So pretty much all I did was sew, garden, and clean. (The operative word there being 'all'. Normally I like all three, but at the end of the week I felt like I was in a coma.)

Do you know how ego-trying it is to have to wait nearly a month to know how smart you are? It's only on the 23rd that I get to see not only whether I'm smarter than a 5th grader but also, more importantly, if I'm really as intelligent as I pretend I am. And then I guess finding out whether I'm eligible for scholarships is nice too.....

And don't for a second believe that you can trust your gut feeling on how you did. It is a lie. A nasty lie, a la Jeremiah 17:9. Maddie, who is much braver than I, took the ACT twice (aghh!!!) and said that on the last time, she felt like she did much better than she did on the first. But in the end, she got the same score. And take my own personal experience. Each time I'd practice a section - let's say math - I'd finish, feeling pretty confident and exclaiming like Napoleon Dynamite "It's sweet, it's awesome, it's, INCREDIBLE!" at my mental prowess, only to be faced with the stark reality that I got only half the problems right. Reader, it is an experience unmatched in disappointment.

Anyways, things are back to normal now that I can look at a book or my email without my brain shutting down. I'll just try to amuse myself with my blog in a desperate attempt to keep my sanity while waiting for next Thursday. IT CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH. Pity me.

"Heresy Hunting"

2011-05-29T23:51:00.000-05:00

I'm of the opinion that the best way to understand a false teaching is to read what the "culprit" himself has to say - not what his critics write about him. Sure, reading critiques of the former can be helpful, but I'm wary about trusting 3rd parties when it comes to these things. I want to see it for myself. So I decided to make a list of 12 books written by people ranging from those who I disagree with on a minor doctrinal issue to outright dangerous heretics. What have I read so far, you ask?

First, there was Mere Christianity. C.S. Lewis seems to be the most quoted Christian thinker of the 20th century, so of course most of the book was pretty good. What I didn't like was his cavalier approach to explaining the atonement ("Yeah, the whole thing does sound pretty dumb when you think of it, but hey, it works!") and the pattern of his reasoning skills melting down at the very hint of Calvinism. While I enjoyed looking at Christianity from a philosophical perspective, I'm not quite sure what I think of using that to introduce non-believers to what we believe. (The Bible says faith comes through the reading of the Word, and I barely remember seeing any Scripture in the book.)

Next was The Prayer of Jabez. It is the most mercenary book I've ever read. The message of the book? God is longing to give you all these assorted blessings, but can't because we won't ask for them!!!!! Here's the crowning glory of it all:

"In my experience, most Christians seem to pray solely for strength to endure temptations - for victory over the attacks of our raging adversary, Satan. Somehow we don't think to ask God to simply to keep us away from temptation and keep the devil at bay in our lives. But in the model prayer Jesus gave His followers, nearly a quarter of its fifty words ask for deliverance: "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matt. 6:13). Nothing about spiritual insight or special powers. Not a word about confrontation. When was the last time you asked God to keep you away from temptation? In the same way that God wants you to ask for more blessing, more territory, and more power, He longs to hear you plead for safekeeping from evil. Without a temptation, we would not sin. Most of us face too many temptations - and therefore sin too often - because we don’t ask God to lead us away from temptation. We make a huge spiritual leap forward, therefore, when we begin to focus less on beating temptation and more on avoiding it."

asghdfgibsdfhbgripfgerpgiohwrtopghrtbgp

Moving on, the last book I finished was The Da Vinci Code. Honestly, I don't understand why every Christian author has found it his duty to write a refutation or two of this - it's just a mystery novel. It's fiction. Yeah, the parts elaborating the alleged Jesus-Mary Magdalene affair were pretty irritating, but I really don't think a secular novel - not a Christian ALLEGORY, like The Shack - is that dangerous to the church.

Finally, I'm currently reading 'Reformed' Is Not Enough by Doug Wilson. The Federal Vision camp is really confusing. So far, what strikes me is that they're obsessed with focusing on the church visible, at the expense of protecting the church invisible. Normally, I don't think I would really give too much attention to this group, as I'm not a Presbyterian, but you come across it a lot in the Christian classical homeschooling circle, so I wanted to be able to recognize it when I see it.

So maybe next I'll read The Purpose Driven Life, now that Warren and Piper are friends. How the heck did that happen?

I continue in existence

2011-05-24T14:38:00.000-05:00

Lilacs & Apple (?) Blossoms from the backyard

The last month was rather crazy, so sorry for depriving you of the unmatched wit and profundity that has come to be such an attribute of this blog.....I decided to do the humane thing and post again before life begins to lose all meaning. [snort]

Right now I don't really feel like droning on and on about all the news-related things that have happened that I normally would have blogged about, so I will just list them here and say I was excited about them:

The Royal Wedding (I might post an encomium on that wedding dress, ha)
The demise of Bin Laden
The rapture-that-gives-"secret"-a-whole-new-meaning-because-we-didn't-even-notice-it-happening
Earth Day (haha, just threw that in there to see if you were paying attention)

My computer was broken for the past several weeks, so I was forced to find other ways to amuse myself rather than stalking people on Facebook or reading Wikipedia (or delighting you with my writing). I got a lot of reading done, and now live in horror of spending as much time on the computer as I used to. It's pathetic how much of your day you can waste on here. BLAH.

Sunday felt like an example of what God intended the Lord's Day to be like. I learned new things in Sunday School and the fellowship was great (as it always is), but what stood out most was the classic eerie feeling that the sermon was aimed directly at myself. (I love how God uses sermons to address something in our lives exactly when we need to hear it most.) Anyways, it was exactly like when Christian goes to the Palace Beautiful. I love my church.

Yesterday, I started planning out my school schedule for next year. It's rather sad and weird to think it's the last time I'll be doing that. I always looked at seniors as these adult, enlightened beings, so it seems wrong to think that's what I'll be this year as I am clearly neither of the two. Ha.

Hope you're having a great spring!

Jesus Lives

2011-04-24T22:07:00.000-05:00

Jesus lives, and so shall I.

Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and reigns supreme,
And, his kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with him,
Ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and by his grace,
Vict'ry o'er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways,
Ever to his glory living.
Me he raises from the dust.
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, I know full well
Nought from him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor powers of hell,
Joy nor grief, hence forth forever.
None of all his saints is lost;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian's Trust.

2764 Years

2011-04-21T15:33:00.001-05:00

After completely embarrassing myself in excitement at the museum yesterday upon finding an ancient Roman wood panel painting (Yeah, slightly obsessed....actually, not even that. I'm gone all the way.), I might as well do it again today:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROME!!!!

"I hope my passion for Rome's past has not impaired my judgment; for I do honestly believe that no country has ever been greater or purer than ours or richer in good citizens and noble deeds...."

Livy

Spurgeon hits the nail right on the head

2011-04-12T11:20:00.000-05:00

"There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation - the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands - the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that Throne.

"On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne that we trust." (quoted in The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink)

Another Sunday blurb

2011-04-10T16:25:00.000-05:00

One of the reasons why I love my pastor's sermons is that they inevitably get me thinking. Ok, so not always is it something that has directly to do with the topic, but it's always related. Anyways, lately we've been in the Upper Room Discourse, and the apostle Peter's been coming up. It hit me that I've always looked at him sort of as two different people.

First, there's the Foot-in-Mouth Peter who unfailingly comes up with brilliant statements like this one during the Transfiguration:

"Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

Then there's the Peter of Acts 2 who gives a stunning sermon ex tempore at Pentecost and goes on to write a couple books in the New Testament.

But what I find rather fascinating is the amount of time that elapses between these two different personalities: 50 days. There are only 7 weeks between Peter's denial of Christ to his sermon about Him in Acts 2. That's quite a transformation in such a short amount of time.

So of course it set me thinking, how could that happen? And then I arrived at the obvious conclusion - it was the Holy Spirit. I find that encouraging, because even though you don't see that kind of dramatic change happen too often anymore, it shows that if God can do that kind of a work in someone, He can help me in the tiniest problems I have. Which now brings me back to what the sermon today was really about - if we want to progress in sanctification, we need to rely on Christ.

Christ's death

2011-03-27T16:33:00.003-05:00

As I was listening to my pastor's sermon this morning, something about Christ's death hit me. We all know of the classic Who Killed Christ? debates that went on (and still happen) through the centuries. Some point the finger at the Jews, citing all the passages where the Pharisees/Sanhedrin plotted His murder. Their opponents stand behind the fact that Pontius Pilate took the official charge of overseeing His torture and crucifixion. Well, both sides are right. And what I found interesting about that is its theological connection. God's causing both the Jews AND the Gentiles to be responsible for Christ's death highlights the universality of man's guilt. (Romans 3:23) Who knows what kind of weird heresies would have turned up had the Jews dealt with it amongst themselves, or vice-versa? (I can just see another "Pos" debate, this time concerning the Great Commission - "All means all except when we're talking about the race of people who killed Jesus....." {Now wouldn't that be quite the dilemma, considering Christians are the true ones responsible for Christ's death.}) All in all, it makes me appreciate the sovereignty of God even more.

On the evils of ammonia

2011-03-25T20:22:00.001-05:00

Today, we met with some friends for a weekly science/speech/home ec. co-op. The three of us who are in chemistry do the experiments at the library, and this week we needed ammonia, which one of us brought, and then forgot to take home. ;-) Being the stunningly nice people that we are, we took it with us when we left.

Now it is important to mention here that, as there wasn't any lid, the cover of the jug-o-ammonia has to be covered with tin foil. So, when we were turning into the Culvers parking lot to get some dinner (yeah, we're real classy), what do you know! the ammonia spilled. After the assorted shrieks and exclamations that followed, mom pulled into an obscure parking spot and rushed off to rinse out the carpet which had been hit, while I guarded the jug which had now been banished to sit on the piece of ice we parked on. So ignoring the cold of the ice coming through my thin shoes (so Oliver Twist-esque) and how awkward I must have looked - a random teen standing in a parking lot with a jug of a major ingredient in meth - I waited for mom to come back. She finally did, and we deemed waiting in line while inhaling the fumes not worth the brain damage, so we headed home.

So while mom drove, I held the jug with my feet while avoiding the fumes by hanging my head out the window, sort of like a dog. (In 30 degree weather) Here, I was faced with a decision. I read on a blog a while back that, when in an irritating situation, you can either laugh or cry. Being more of a fan of the former, I started laughing......and laughing..... (Those fumes were getting strong there....) We eventually got home, evacuated the car, and consigned the ammonia to its fate on our front porch, where it is sitting now.

So there was really no point in writing this post, except that I found it entertaining and love the piece of advice I mentioned in the preceding paragraph. And to warn you against the evils of traveling with ammonia, I guess.

Miscellanies # 3

2011-03-25T18:20:00.021-05:00

My friend gave me this shirt a couple weeks ago. Is this not the greatest ever?

With all this drama in Libya, I'm seeing some posts on Facebook by people who are adamantly against America's getting involved, mentioning Bush's invasion of Iraq. It has me thinking. I'm not for our getting ourselves in the middle of every little skirmish that occurs around the world, but I definitely do not support Isolationism. I can't help but wonder whether WW2 would have ended differently - and many lives have been saved - if FDR hadn't waited so long to get involved. Yeah, I'm not a fan of America meddling in everybody's business, but if we could prevent another Hitler or Stalin, might it worth it to get involved SOMETIMES?

It seems like all the Christian Blogosphere has been talking about in the past few weeks is Rob Bell's new book. I'm surprised that everybody's surprised. I mean, wouldn't you EXPECT a leader of the Emergent group to be a universalist? I'm just finding it to be incredibly underwhelming.

As Sense and Sensibility is my favorite book, I am so doing this.

I love this first question/answer of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong-
body and soul,
in life and in death,
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

Odyssey - books 1 & 2

2011-03-22T16:52:00.000-05:00

As I was about to open my edition and start reading Book 1, I wondered to myself whether it was because of a nerdy 7th grade whim that the Odyssey was on my list of favorite books. But as soon as I read the first line, AH, everything that I love about this book came back to me. How could I have been so faithless? ;-)

Not cool with idolatry, but I understand why people paint pictures like this. Homer, you are so brilliant.

So we all know the story. The Trojan War has ended, and all the surviving Greek warriors have made their way home, except one. Enter hero Odysseus. The Odyssey opens 9 years after the end of the war, with the king of Ithaca nowhere in sight. Instead, his palace is overrun with cocky suitors vying for his wife, Penelope. His son, Telemachus, has arrived at adulthood and is thoroughly fed up with the aforesaid leeches. Apparently it's taken 9 years to get the oh-so-dynamic set of Olympian gods to notice all that trouble going on in Odysseus's family. So Athena steps in and takes charge of the situation, appearing to Telemachus and persuading him to sail to a neighboring city to search for any news of his father.

One of the things I love about Homer's poetry is how each character is named. Probably for the sake of meter, Homer always attaches an adjective to the person he's writing about. So, for instance, instead of boring old prosaic "Odysseus," we have "resourceful Odysseus." Get what I mean? It sort of gives the narrative parts a little pizazz. My personal favorite is "rosy-fingered Dawn." I don't know why I get so much of a kick out of this.

This time around, I've already found two "themes" in the Odyssey to think about.

Greek mythology v. the True God. Reading the first two books today, I was struck with just how futile the members of the former are. They're pretty much just immortal humans with superpowers. They spend their days doing nothing really productive, unless you call carousing or messing up mortals' lives for entertainment a good use of time. It makes me think of Elijah's taunt to the Baal worshipers in 1 Kings 18:
"It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened." So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention."
I am so glad our God is one who cares about his people.
The family of Agamemnon. Don't let that weird looking name scare you. He's Helen of Troy's brother-in-law. This was quite the dysfunctional family. While he was gone fighting at Troy, his wife, Clytemnestra took a lover and the illicit pair decided to kill Agamemnon upon his arrival home. It all ended with their son killing Clytemnestra to avenge his father's death.

I believe Homer mentions this family so much in the Odyssey to provide a parallel to that of Odysseus. Both families have a father returning home after a long war; both have a wife tempted to commit adultery; both have a son loyal to his father. Perhaps Homer is trying to set up some tension in the story - we, the readers, will be wondering the whole time whether Odysseus's family will end up in the same boat as that of Agamemnon's.

So, can you tell that I love this story yet? Until next week....

Traveling

2011-02-28T19:48:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow, my sister and I are flying down to Florida to visit my aunt for a week. Not quite sure about everything the itinerary holds in store, but I do know that keywords such as "beach," "pool," and "Disney World" are involved.

Excepting the unease I'm choosing to ignore which goes along with the idea of sitting in a chair 6 miles up in the sky for 2.5 hours, I'm looking forward to the trip. It's going to be really weird to go from 30 degrees in the morning to 75 in the evening. Oh the wonders of modern transportation.

I really like this picture...not sure why.
And it in no way relates to this post.

So anyways, no posts till the 8th. But I've had some ideas of things to write about, so maybe they'll turn up here when I get back. You were warned.

Oh, and today, I rediscovered this quote I had come across, and I liked it so much, I had to post it here: "Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more." (William Cowper) Is that not awesome?

Religious hypocrisy

2011-02-15T10:35:00.001-06:00

"There are bogus men of God just as there are bogus men of courage. And in the same way as we see that when their honor is put to the test the men of courage are not the ones who make the most noise, so the truly pious men of God, in whose footsteps we should follow, are not those who put on the biggest show."

"....just as I believe that if there are still heroes none should be more respected than those who sincerely believe in God, and that nothing on earth is finer or more noble than the sacred fervor of true faith, I also think that there is nothing more odious than a brazen show of spurious piety by shameless hypocrites and self-advertising Pharisees who strike sacrilegious, two-faced attitudes and unrestrainedly exploit and freely mock everything humankind holds most holy and most sacred; people who, putting their own interest first, turn faith into a profession and a commodity and set out to buy credit and public honors by rolling their hypocritical eyes and faking zeal. I mean the ones you see displaying spectacular fervor and turning the path to heavenly salvation into the road to earthly fortune."
Moliere, Tartuffe

Miscellanies #2

2011-02-12T14:44:00.000-06:00

Spring is coming.......

1. THE PACKERS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Maddie & I are going to be reading the Odyssey soon for the Junto. Get ready for half-mad ravings of admiration for it in the weeks to follow.

3. I got this book the other week at the library for $0.25. Epic win.

4. Today, I finished reading Dante's Purgatory. Not as good as Inferno, but it was interesting to read because I've never really given the place much attention (probably because I don't believe it exists...ha). As is pointed out in the notes of my book, there's no fire until the end, which is odd because I always thought the traditional Catholic view is that the place is a sort of furnace that burns away your remaining sin. Huh. Anyways, I really enjoy watching how Dante chose to arrange the respective "destinations" - examining his reasoning behind the books is really thought-provoking.
5. I hate the lame attempts at philosophy the makers of Dove chocolates put on their wrappers. Apparently, they've gotten desperate and have turned to asking others to contribute their homemade profundities. So this is what I saw the other day:

"The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?"
Jeremiah 17:9

Blizzard

2011-02-02T14:03:00.000-06:00

Cars are buried in snowdrifts, people are stranded in their houses, and friends in Texas are reporting sub-freezing temperatures. Yes, my dear readers, global warming is upon us.

After being summoned from my nice, WARM bed this morning, this is what greeted me when I looked out the kitchen window:

The awesome thing about this is that, when people heard there was a blizzard coming, they were like, "Cool. Hey, the Packers are going to the Superbowl." But if North Carolina was expecting 1 inch of snow, there'd be panic and all Walmarts would be raided for bread and milk. Hahaha.

Snow on the icicles

Blizzards are fun until you've been out shoveling in 20 degree weather with 20 mph. winds for an hour and a half. And that's after you've gotten 1/10 of your driveway done. Thank goodness for nice neighbors with snowblowers.

The patio table!

Last night, when we could hardly see out the window, we were pretty sure we saw a lightning flash. Is that possible in a blizzard? I will leave you with that profound thought. Stay warm!

Wives and Daughters - the rest of the book

2011-01-27T21:06:00.000-06:00

So I finally decided to write another Junto post. I do cruel things to myself, like attempting to read 15 books at once (do not try this at home), convinced the earth cannot revolve another day if I don't finish each one by the end of the month. Fine literature such as Wives and Daughters often gets put on the back burner in the inevitable book-reading crises that occur when the 28th or 29th rolls around. So that, my dear readers, is my meager apology for forgetting to write another Junto post.

I suppose I ought to summarize what happened in the book.......but 500 pages worth of plot is not going to fit neatly into 2 or 3 little paragraphs. I'll give you the ADHD version here, and if you think I left too much out, go read Wikipedia:

Mr Gibson gets married and his new wife is....ANNOYING. Molly and her new step-sister, Cynthia, become best friends. Cynthia is one of those memorable characters - charming but odd, worldly but impetuous, superficial but mysterious.
Molly & Osborne and Roger become virtual brothers and sister. Osborne disappoints his family by neglecting his studies and going into debt. Mrs. Hamley becomes very sick and eventually dies.
Roger becomes smitten with Cynthia and they get engaged. Roger travels to Africa for 2 years to do research and collect specimens. Molly finds out Osborne has secretly married a young Catholic Frenchwoman, who has just had a baby.
Cynthia tells Molly that she's been engaged to another man, and creates a scandal in town when she breaks it off. She feels guilty about the whole thing, and breaks off her engagement to Roger too.
Osborne dies suddenly from a heart problem, and his widow shows up at Hamley Hall. Mr. Hamley, despite his hatred of French and Catholics, accepts his daughter-in-law and grandson.
Roger comes back, and Cynthia marries somebody she met in London. Roger falls in love with Molly.

Molly, Roger, and Mr. Hamley

Here follow some random observations on the book.

Wives and Daughters really reminded me of Mansfield Park. They both have a good-natured, naive heroine who likes a nice-guy hero who is too stupid to realize it because he likes a less than upright woman. The aforesaid heroine spends most of the book pining for the hero, lamenting the unworthiness of her rival, until finally, in the second or third-to-last chapter, the hero awakens to the wonderful-ness of the heroine. Maybe some people like this kind of story, but I find it frustrating and dull. The whole time, I just want to shake the guy and make him see how much of an idiot he is. Wives and Daughters isn't as bad as Mansfield Park, however, so I was able to get over it most of the time.

Although some aren't excessively fond of Osborne, I couldn't help being sympathetic towards him. Yeah, most of his problems are his own fault, but if his father hadn't been so narrow-minded, many of them could have been resolved. But still, he ought to have been brave and face his father. Doing the right thing is always worth the pain that it may cause.

I also found it ironic yet realistic how Osborne, who had been the "genius" of the family, ended up being overshadowed by the younger and slightly under appreciated Roger. How often are we so focused on what we perceive to be the greatness of one thing/person, while completely ignoring the equal worth of another?

All in all, Wives and Daughters wasn't a brilliantly thought-provoking book, but it was fun to read. I saw the movie a few years back, (which, alas, spoiled the plot for me) so I want to see it again and decide whether it was faithful to the book. I'll let you know what I find out.

I love the Canterbury Tales

2011-01-21T23:51:00.000-06:00

There was a student out of Oxford town,
Indentured long to logic and the gown.
Lean as a rake the horse on which he sat,
And he himself was anything but fat,
But rather wore a hollow look and sad.
Threadbare the little outer-coat he had,
For he was still to get a benefice
And thoughts of worldly office were not his.
For he would rather have beside his bed
Twenty books arrayed in black or red
Of Aristotle and his philosophy
Than robes or fiddle or jocund psaltery.
Yet though he was philosopher, his coffer
Indeed but scanty store of gold could offer,
And any he could borrow from a friend
On books and learning straightway would he spend,
And make with prayer a constant offering
For those that helped him with his studying.
He gave to study all his care and heed,
Nor ever spoke a word beyond his need,
And that was said in form, respectfully,
And brief and quick and charged with meaning high.
Harmonious with virtue was his speech,
And gladly would he learn and gladly teach.

(General Prologue)

On Bunyan

2011-01-18T22:30:00.007-06:00

I've been reading John Bunyan's autobiography. It's mostly from a spiritual standpoint, and one thing I found surprising was how long God worked on his heart before he was truly converted - something like 5 years! During that time, he sincerely wanted to understand how to be saved, but was constantly being assaulted by temptations and doubts. It made me think of Christian at the beginning of Pilgrim's Progress; undoubtedly Bunyan was drawing on his own experience while writing the book. I found myself readily sympathizing with him, because I remember (albeit after I was converted) a few years when I had my own painful struggles with assurance. I suppose all Christians can relate. We all have to walk through the Valley of Humiliation.

Another thing this made me think about was how Christians today unrealistically expect conversion to be this sudden, dramatic light-bulb experience. I know I used to think that way, which probably explains my astonishment at the length of time of Bunyan's conversion. I think of all the over-zealous street preachers and conference speakers who pressure their listeners into saying "the prayer," regarding it as a magical incantation that guarantees one's way into heaven. From my reading and talking to people I know, I'm persuaded that God more often than not works out our salvation over a long period of time while we scarcely realize what's happening.

My favorite part of Pilgrims' Progress is when Christian stays at the Palace Beautiful. In the allegory, it's a picture of the weekly meeting of the church. The peaceful rest from his journey and the fellowship Christian enjoys with the inhabitants of the palace are a lovely portrayal of what the church visible is intended to be.

Christian arriving at the Palace Beautiful

"If I could possess the tinker's abilities to grip men's hearts, I would gladly give in exchange all my learning." - John Owen

"Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak with out quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God." - Charles Spurgeon

Happy New Year

2011-01-06T20:46:00.001-06:00

Christian in Palace Beautiful

If I were reading this, my mind would go on auto-pilot because of the title. A bunch of the blogs I read (and it's always the most interesting ones) have been half-forgotten by their owners, but upon the arrival of 2011, at least half have been updated with a Happy-New-Year!-Sorry-for-being-a-bad-blogger-It-won't-happen-ever-ever-again post. And then there isn't another post until February. C'est la vie.

I will join the band of absent-minded bloggers in saying that there are some things I want to change though. Here follows my Blogging New Years Resolutions:

More book reviews. (Or at least to talk about what I'm reading) What's the point of reading if you can't share what you learn? Last year I made a goal to read 5 books a month, and am continuing it this year. And there's got to be SOMETHING interesting to write about in there.
A revamping of the Junto. Let's all say it together: The Junto fails. Maddie and I have been talking a lot about it, and have decided to try a new approach. Instead of randomly choosing books that look entertaining, we have decided to follow a list. Actually a book - Invitation to the Classics. I'm really excited about it!
Following through with what I plan to do here. Otherwise, I just look like an idiot......

I've pretty much given up on personal New Years resolutions. But I'll make an exception for this one of Jonathan Edwards: "Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before."

I hope your 2011 is a year grace-filled and God-centered.

2011

2010-12-31T14:14:00.000-06:00

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downward by thy flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

--Isaac Watts--

Best Picture Ever

2010-12-30T22:54:00.001-06:00

The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

Cicero

The loveliness of God's will

2010-12-29T23:01:00.001-06:00

"God's plans and purposes for me, and for you, dear reader, were all made and determined on from the beginning; and as they are worked out day by day in our lives, how wise should we be if, with joyful certainty, we accepted each unfolding of His will as a proof of his faithfulness and love! When once I, as a believer, can say from my heart, 'This is the will of God concerning me', it matters not what the 'this' is - whether it be a small domestic worry or the severance of the dearest earthly ties - the fact that it is His most blessed will, takes all the fierce sting out of the trouble, and leaves it powerless to hurt or hinder the peace of my soul. There is all the difference between the murderous blows of an enemy, and the needful chastisement of a loving father's hand! The Lord may make us sore, but He will bind us up. He may wound, but His hands make whole. How often has the Lord to break a heart before He can enter into it, and fill it with His love; but how precious and fragrant is the balm which, from that very moment, flows out of that heart to others!"

(Susannah Spurgeon, Free Grace and Dying Love, pp. 35-36)

On the wise men

2010-12-28T23:25:00.000-06:00

"Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations"

The verses above refer to the three wise men who came to visit Christ as a child, but I think we can all learn a lesson from their example. If three pagan scholars stopped their work and undertook the long journey to Palestine, can't we - professing Christians - set aside time from our work and studies to commune with God?

As usual, Jonathan Edwards has profound insight that sums it up better than I could........

"The excellency of Christ is an object suited to the superior faculties of man, suited to entertain the faculty of reason and understanding; and there is nothing so worthy about which the understanding can be employed as this excellency. No other object is so great, noble, and exalted."

Cruelty

2010-12-23T18:55:00.000-06:00

Wow. The pattern companies have stooped far too low.

You can just see the humiliation on these dogs' faces.

The coolest Halloween costume ever, no?

I greet thee, who my sure Redeemer art

2010-12-19T16:04:00.000-06:00

I greet thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
My only trust and Saviour of my heart,
Who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray thee from our hearts all cares to take.

Thou art the King of mercy and of grace,
Reigning omnipotent in every place:
So come, O King, and our whole being sway;
Shine on us with the light of thy pure day.

Thou art the life, by which alone we live,
And all our substance and our strength receive;
O comfort us in death's approaching hour,
Strong-hearted then to face it by thy pow'r.

Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness,
No harshness hast thou and no bitterness:
Make us to taste the sweet grace found in thee
And ever stay in thy sweet unity.

Our hope is in no other save in thee;
Our faith is built upon thy promise free;
O grant to us such stronger hope and sure
That we can boldly conquer and endure.

Miscellanies

2010-12-14T20:11:00.002-06:00

I'm not a grammar nerd, but I have been taught to live in horror of the dreaded 'dangling participle.' It made my day when I found the aforesaid grammar error in my grammar textbook:
"Although her collaborator was deceased, the Nobel Prize Committee promptly excepted its rule and awarded Dr. Yallow the undeniably prestigious Nobel Prize for Medicine."
Hahahahahhaha.
I was curious, so I counted all the Facebook statuses (stati?) I posted in 2010. The total? The devastatingly huge number of 12. I am so addicted, I know.
Apparently there is another Jane Eyre movie coming out in March. It looks slightly incredible. I like how the poster doesn't have the stuffy look most "bonnet dramas" seem to have:
I read A Midsummer Night's Dream a week or two ago. Boy, the last act is hilarious! Shakespeare isn't as hard as I was afraid he would be. Don't you love those revelations? :-)
I did an epic cleaning of my room last week, and I found the beginning of a little story I tried writing when I was in middle school. It's all about the incidents that a group of kids in a tiny church got into. Each character is a thinly disguised version of everyone who was at my own church at the time, and just about everything that went on in the story actually happened. It was pretty awesome reading it and being reminded of the fun times I had back in the day. So there's my commercial in support of cleaning - you never know what you may find. Ha.

Some things never change......

2010-12-04T08:31:00.003-06:00

Even though there is in this generation a growing number of professors, a great noise of religion, religious duties in every corner, and preaching in abundance, there is little evidence of the fruit of true mortification. Perhaps we might find that, judging by the principle of mortification, the number of true believers is not as multiplied as it appears from those who have made a mere profession. Some speak and profess a spirituality that far exceeds the former days, but their lives give evidence of a miserable unmortified heart. If vain spending of time, idleness, envy, strife, variations, emulence, wrath, pride, worldliness, selfishness, are the marks of Christians, we have them among us in abundance. May the good Lord send us a spirit of mortification to cure our distempers, or we will be in a sad condition!

John Owen, The Mortification of Sin

Wives & Daughters - chapters 1-10

2010-11-29T22:02:00.005-06:00

Sorry for not posting lately. We were really busy with Thanksgiving and such. If anybody still reads this blog, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Now, on with this post......

Honestly, I haven't really found too much in Wives and Daughters so far to make up an interesting blog post. Either Gaskell writes pure narrative or I'm bad at analyzing (probably the latter ;-). So sorry if this is a pretty boring first post.

The main character is a 17 year old girl named Molly Gibson, who is the daughter of a semi-brilliant country surgeon; her mother died when she was little. Not surprisingly, Molly & her father are pretty close. Although she has a sort of governess who lives with them, Molly lives in a slightly awkward position - two young interns live in the house to study under Dr. Gibson, and one of them seems to have acquired a fancy for Molly. After intercepting a love letter from the aforesaid smitten intern, Molly's father decides to send his daughter to visit friends for a while.

Molly becomes pretty close with Mr. & Mrs. Hamley, the people she's staying with. They always talk about their two college-age sons, who seem to be exact opposites of each other. The older son, Osborne, is polished, intellectual, and poetic (the family has high hopes for him), while Roger, the younger, is entirely uninterested in book learning, preferring all things natural and scientific. Roger comes home to visit for a while, and he and Molly don't really hit it off.

One day, Molly's father decides to get married again. The intended lady, a widow, has a daughter Molly's age, so you'd think the whole thing is a good idea. However, Mrs. Kirkpatrick sort of seems like a rather selfish, shallow person, and when Dr. Gibson informs Molly of the news, she freaks out. Later on, Roger finds her crying under a tree, and in a gruff sort of way, tries to console her. So I'm thinking that they'll probably become friends despite their initial personality clash.

Like Jane Austen's novels, there's a very clear distinction in Wives and Daughters between the "commoners" and the gentry. You know there will be the inevitable Rich-girl/guy-wants-to-marry-poor-guy/girl-but-snobby-parents-interfere situation. And I find it slightly not cool how suddenly Dr. Gibson decided to re-marry. Although he had been thinking about it for a while, he literally made the decision AND came up with who to marry all while riding over to a client's house. Yikes!

One thing about Victorian literature that always strikes me is the different and odd philosophies to be found in each book. (Alcott is one of the weirdest) Wives and Daughters is not excluded. Here's an excerpt in which Dr. Gibson tells Molly's governess how he would like her education to go:

"Don't teach Molly too much: she must sew, and read, and write, and do her sums; but I want to keep her a child, and if I find more learning desirable for her, I'll see about giving it to her myself. After all, I am not sure that reading or writing is necessary. Many a good woman gets married with only a cross instead of her name; it's rather a diluting of mother-wit, to my fancy; but, however we must yield to the prejudices of society, Miss Eyre, and so you may teach the child to read."

????

But besides these assorted oddities, I find Wives and Daughters to be a pretty good book so far. I like the everyday kind of story, not gothic novels a la Emily Bronte or Ann Radcliffe. The subtitle of Wives and Daughters is "An Everyday Story," so I think we're good to go.

Till next Monday....

I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord

2010-11-14T14:26:00.000-06:00

I love thy Kingdom, Lord,
The house of thine abode,
The church our blest Redeemer saved
With his own precious blood.

I love thy church, O God:
Her walls before thee stand,
Dear as the apple of thine eye,
And graven on thy hand.

For her my tears shall fall,
For her my prayers ascend;
To her my cares and toils be giv'n,
Till toils and cares shall end.

Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heav'nly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.

Jesus, thou Friend Divine,
Our Saviour and our King,
Thy hand from ev'ry snare and foe
Shall great deliv'rance bring.

Sure as thy truth shall last,
To Zion shall be giv'n
The brightest glories earth can yield,
And brighter bliss of heav'n.

Miscellanies

2010-11-12T18:59:00.000-06:00

1. Sorry for the shortage in posting. My computer had a nasty virus that took my dad a while to fix. Usually I'm really paranoid about that kind of a thing....I have no clue how I got it. All you Mac users, no PC hating, please. ;-)

2. This one only Maddie & I will enjoy, so humor me. Then again, how could the title of this article NOT make you want to read it? "20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World."

3. When I was little, I was obsessed with Cinderella. When I say obsessed, I mean it. And you know what is cruel? At that time, my beloved Disney version of the movie was in the "Vault" as they call it, so I was never able to get a VHS of it till I was older. It was the great sorrow of my early childhood. I made up for it by raiding my library of all the different literary versions of the story they had. So today, I found a book on Google Books which has 345 variants of the story! Is that even possible??

4. I sort of love this Monet picture:

Luther's hymn

2010-10-31T23:16:00.001-05:00

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper he amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great;
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he,
Lord Sabaoth his name,
From age to age the same,
And he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through him who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
His kingdom is for ever.

-----

Happy Reformation Day!

Katherine Parr on holiness

2010-10-28T11:18:00.000-05:00

Of the wives of Henry VIII, the only one who I had ever thought of as being remotely connected with the reformation was Anne Boleyn. Well, as it turns out, his final wife, Katherine Parr, became a steadfast member of the movement midway through her reign. One time, she nearly lost her life for her convictions. She wrote two small books: the first, a prayer book called Meditations, and the second, a devotional work full of spiritual insight, titled The Lamentation of a Sinner. I've posted a quote from the latter before, but the book is so good, I have another excerpt to share:

"Charity suffereth long, and is gentle, envieth not, upbraideth no man, casteth frowardly no faults in men's teeth, but referreth all things to God (1 Cor. 13), being angry without sin (Eph. 4:26), reforming others without their slanders, carrying ever a storehouse of mild words to pierce the stony-hearted men. I would that all Christians, like as they have professed Christ, would so endeavor themselves to follow Him in godly living. For we have not put on Christ to live any more to the vanities, delights, and pleasures of the world, and the flesh, suffering the concupiscence and carnality of the flesh to have its full swing: for we must walk after the Spirit, and not after the flesh, for the spirit is spiritual, and coveteth spiritual things, and the flesh carnal (Gal. 5:16 ff), and desireth carnal things. The men, regenerate by Christ, despise the world and all the vanities and pleasures thereof."

(The Lamentation of a Sinner, ch. 8)

Wives & Daughters

2010-10-27T23:05:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth Gaskell in the year of her marriage

I was so into starting this, I sort of read the first 7 chapters. Oops. I promise to wait till next week to talk about them!

Like many of the famous authors of the 19th century, Gaskell originally published Wives and Daughters in a periodical. Cornhill Magazine was a competitor of Dickens's own All the Year Around, and its first editor was William Makepeace Thakeray of Vanity Fair fame.

I was looking at my edition of Wives and Daughters, and the author blurb said that Elizabeth Gaskell married a Unitarian pastor. In the 1800's novels were frowned upon by most pastors, so it would seem to be an odd match. But the Unitarians, whose outlook on religion was 'Everybody's right!', were more concerned with social issues than deciding whether novels were wholesome or not. I'm curious to see whether traces of Mrs. Gaskell's "theology" will show up in the book.

Also from the cover of my book, it appears as if Darwinism might make an appearance. One of the characters in Wives and Daughters is an avid naturalist, and Gaskell mentions one of his interests being comparative anatomy. If I remember what I learned in biology, comparative anatomy and Darwinism go hand in hand.

Apparently, Gaskell died before she finished the book, so I guess we all get to imagine how it ends. However, the second editor of Cornhill Magazine decided to finish it (presumably to keep the subscribers happy) and the last chapter is written by him. I wonder if he made it all up himself or whether Gaskell left behind notes that he followed? Hmmmmm......

Hahahahaha

2010-10-26T11:03:00.000-05:00

This literally JUST fell into our yard:

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it's a pretty tall tree. Good thing it fell where the pool used to be, and not on top of the house! Now to figure out how to get rid of it........

Busy

2010-10-23T23:02:00.003-05:00

I take pictures of scenery when I get bored @ my sister's photo shoots

I want to jump in that pile of leaves!

Besides the usual workload of self-inflicted schoolwork, I've been busy with errands, get-togethers, catching up on reading.....pretty much living a life. My dad's been in the hospital on and off since the 10th with a mysterious infection. I can never remember the official name for his disease (something like Non Alcoholic Liver Cirrhosis) but because he's on the transplant list, you have to be careful about the slightest fever. So we've been going to and from the hospital pretty often too. All this to say, there isn't much time to be on the computer. Ah well, at least I'm writing now.

Last fall was LAME, so in reaction I've made a mental list of fall-ish things I want to do this year. So far I've

Gone to a cornmaze
Gotten mums
Pressed flowers from the garden (is that really a fall thing? whatever)
Eaten candy corn
Walked through/taken pictures of the trees
Raked leaves
Been to a bonfire (there wasn't any marshmallow roasting or anything so I don't know if that counts ;-)

All that's left is to get pumpkins and celebrate Reformation Day and Thanksgiving! This October has been unusually warm, so it's been great to enjoy the nice weather longer. I couldn't imagine living somewhere without the four seasons.

If I don't post tomorrow, I'll be back Monday with the first Wives and Daughters post!

The church's one Foundation

2010-10-17T23:10:00.000-05:00

The church's one Foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the Word:
From heav'n he came and sought her
To be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.

Elect from ev'ry nation,
Yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food.
And to one hope she presses,
With ev'ry grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.

The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
To guide, sustain and cherish
Is with her to the end;
Though there be those that hate her,
And false sons in her pale,
Against or foe or traitor
She ever shall prevail.

'Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace for evermore;
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
With the God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with thee.

Wow.

2010-10-14T09:54:00.000-05:00

"Frederick the Wise, the elector of Saxony, Luther's prince, was a man of simple and sincere piety who had devoted a lifetime to making Wittenberg the Rome of Germany as a depository of sacred relics. He had made a journey to all parts of Europe, and diplomatic negotiations were facilitated by an exchange of relics. The king of Denmark, for example, sent him fragments of King Canute and St. Brigitta.

The collection had as its nucleus a genuine thorn from the crown of Christ, certified to have pierced the Savior's brow. Frederick so built up the collection from this inherited treasure that the catalogue illustrated by Lucas Cranach in 1509 listed 5,005 particles, to which were attached indulgences calculated to reduce Purgatory by 1,443 years. The collection included one tooth of St. Jerome, of St. Chrysostom four pieces, of St. Bernard six, and of St. Augustine four; of Our Lady four hairs, three pieces of her cloak, four from her girdle, and seven from the veil sprinkled with the blood of Christ. The relics of Christ included one piece from his swaddling clothes, thirteen from his crib, one wisp of straw, one piece of the gold brought by the Wise Men and three of the myrrh, one strand of Jesus' beard, one of the nails driven into his hands, one piece of bread eaten at the Last Supper, one piece of the stone on which Jesus stood to ascend into heaven, and one twig of Moses' burning bush. By 1520 the collection had mounted to 19,013 holy bones. Those who viewed these relics on the designated day and made the stipulated contributions might receive from the pope indulgences for the reduction of purgatory, either for themselves or others, to the extent of 1,902,202 years and 270 days. These were the treasures made available on the day of All Saints."

(Here I Stand, pp. 51-53)

How do people come up with this stuff????

October

2010-10-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

I said last week that we'd be starting Wives and Daughters on Monday, but Maddie is taking a break from blogging for a couple weeks, so we're postponing it till the 25th. It works out this way, anyways, because I've been catching up on some stuff and wouldn't have had time to read the chapters.
Right now all the trees are brilliant, as you can see in the above photos. Autumn is definitely my favorite season, the only bad thing about it is that it doesn't last longer! I'm trying to enjoy it all while I can.
The aforesaid blogging break of Maddie's is part of a no-social-media challenge we at our homeschool co-op agreed to do, as we're reading Do Hard Things together. Well, obviously, I'm still blogging, but we're all refraining from Facebook, email, IM, etc., etc. Facebook is totally overrated in my opinion, but it's still hard to resist the urge to ~~stalk~~ interact with the people I know. Today was the first time I've written an actual letter to someone in a really long time. I've forgotten how fun letters are!
Yesterday, I turned 17. Most of the aforesaid homeschool group meets on Tuesday nights for a Bible study, and they totally surprised me with an Italian dinner (my favorite food!) and cupcakes (courtesy of Maddie :-). It was definitely one of those birthdays you don't forget. God has blessed me with great friends.

Luther on studying Free Will

2010-10-10T22:34:00.000-05:00

"It is not irreligious, idle, or superfluous, but in the highest degree wholesome and necessary, for a Christian to know whether or not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability 'free-will' has, in what respect it is the subject of Divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse case than any people on the earth! He who dissents from that statement should acknowledge that he is no Christian; and he who ridicules or derides it should realize that he is the Christian's chief foe. For if I am ignorant of the nature, extent and limits of what I can and must do with reference to God, I shall be equally ignorant and uncertain of what God can and will do in me - though God, in fact, works all in all. Now, if I am ignorant of God's works and power, I am ignorant of God Himself; and if I do not know God, I cannot worship, praise, and give thanks or serve Him, for I do not know how much I should attribute to myself and how much to Him. We need, therefore, to have in mind a clear-cut distinction between God's power and ours, and God's work and ours, if we would live a godly life."

(The Bondage of the Will, p. 78)

2 Announcements

2010-10-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

The Life of Martin Luther

# 1. Maddie & I have decided on another Junto book - Wives and Daughters. I saw the movie, so I sort of know what happens, although Masterpiece Theater flicks aren't always the most reliable in the true to the book department. It seemed interesting enough, though, so hopefully this will be a fun read. I can't find my brain this week, so I might be off on this one, but I think we're starting next Monday.

# 2. I'm reading The Bondage of the Will right now for school, and every day I get more and more hyped about the Reformation. In fact, I'm so excited, I'm declaring October to be Reformation Month here at Ex Libris. There are SO many good quotes and stories I keep coming across, I can't help but share them all with you! So expect to see random posts each week on the topic. Maybe I'll come up with something especially cool for October 31st. Who knows.

How sweet and awful is the place

2010-10-03T22:52:00.000-05:00

How sweet and awful is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores.

While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
"Lord, why was I a guest?

"Why was I made to hear thy voice,
And enter while there's room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?"

'Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.

Pity the nations, O our God,
Constrain the earth to come;
Send thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

We long to see thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May, with one voice and heart and soul,
Sing thy redeeming grace.

(Isaac Watts)

Gotta love art history

2010-09-28T17:18:00.008-05:00

I've been reading The Annotated Mona Lisa because I'm doing a little Renaissance history, and found that Michelangelo was quite the character:

"His wit could be cruel, as when he was asked why the ox in another artist's painting was so much more convincing than other elements. 'Every painter,' Michelangelo said, 'does a good self-portrait.'"

NICE. Oh, and then there's this one about Leonardo da Vinci:

"He died at the age of 67 in France, where he had been summoned by Francis I for the sole duty of conversing with the king."

That's an original job. Now, I know plenty of people I'd pay not to talk........

Great God of Wonders

2010-09-26T20:43:00.001-05:00

Great God of wonders! all thy ways
Are worthy of thyself divine;
And the bright glories of thy grace
Among thine other wonders shine:
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

Pardon from an offended God!
Pardon for sins of deepest dye!
Pardon bestowed through Jesus' blood!
Pardon that brings the rebel nigh!
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

O may this glorious, matchless love,
This God-like miracle of grace,
Teach mortal tongues, like those above,
To raise this song of lofty praise:
Who is a pardoning God like thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?

Autumn

2010-09-23T14:15:00.000-05:00

Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain,
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned,
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand,
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain!
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand
Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land,
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain!
Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended
So long beneath the heaven's o'er-hanging eaves;
Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended;
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;
And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid,
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!

Longfellow

Makes me laugh every time...

2010-09-21T23:19:00.000-05:00


Mr. F's Aunt

"The major characteristics discoverable by the stranger in Mr F.’s Aunt, were extreme severity and grim taciturnity; sometimes interrupted by a propensity to offer remarks in a deep warning voice, which, being totally uncalled for by anything said by anybody, and traceable to no association of ideas, confounded and terrified the Mind. Mr F.’s Aunt may have thrown in these observations on some system of her own, and it may have been ingenious, or even subtle: but the key to it was wanted. The neatly-served and well-cooked dinner (for everything about the Patriarchal household promoted quiet digestion) began with some soup, some fried soles, a butter-boat of shrimp sauce, and a dish of potatoes. The conversation still turned on the receipt of rents. Mr F.’s Aunt, after regarding the company for ten minutes with a malevolent gaze, delivered the following fearful remark:

‘When we lived at Henley, Barnes’s gander was stole by tinkers.’

Mr Pancks courageously nodded his head and said, ‘All right, ma’am.’ But the effect of this mysterious communication upon Clennam was absolutely to frighten him."

- Little Dorrit, chapter 13

Foolishness to the gentiles....

2010-09-19T17:39:00.000-05:00

I was looking inside my Omnibus III book, as I know all of you do, and I came across a discussion question that was asked:

"Since the rise of Christianity, one of the great tensions in Western culture has been framed as 'faith v. reason.' How do faith and reason fit together?"

Especially after I was exposed to the philosophers when I started high school, that dilemma has been on my mind pretty often. There's a lot in the Bible that makes sense to anyone who thinks about it long enough, but when you get to doctrines like Christ's Incarnation or Resurrection, the only way we can possibly accept it is through faith.

When reading church history, one thing I've noticed is how often people try to resolve the dilemma. The church fathers spent much of their time reconciling Platonism with New Testament doctrines. Later on in Medieval Europe, Scholasticism, with its most famous adherent, Thomas Aquinas, picked up where our Ancient forefathers left off, producing several different hermeneutical techniques (whether they were good or not, well, that's another post ;-) which clearly show the influence of philosophy. When the Reformation came around, Protestant scholars like Luther or Calvin often used the sophisticated rules of logic to aid their Biblical studies. And likely the most recognizable to us today, the liberals of the 19th and 20th centuries often compromised such doctrines as 6-Day Creation and the Virgin Birth in order to make the Bible fit neatly into their scientific theories.

With all that in mind, I think of one of my favorite parts of the Bible, Acts 17. Here, Faith (Paul) and Reason (the Greeks) meet. I find Paul's approach to witnessing to the very-philosophical Gentiles interesting. Instead of completely dismissing reason and philosophy, he uses both to argue his case. That isn't to say that he embraced their philosophies himself, but it does show that we can arrive at truths taught in the Bible simply by thinking rationally about things around us, i.e. the depravity of man, the basic moral law, etc.

But where reason falls short is when you try to explain why man is fallen or prove that Christ is God. If we were able to explain away every difficulty in the Bible, there would be no place for faith. "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

In the end, it appears that reason is best used when it is the servant of faith. Nothing should dissuade us of what we believe is taught in the Bible. But when witnessing, teaching, or studying, reason helps us arrive at conclusions or forcefully present an argument. In church history, when orthodox Christianity is embraced, intellectual pursuits don't diminish, but flourish. Take a look at all the books written in the Reformation, Puritan era, Great Awakening, etc. On the other hand, when a culture abandons Christ, things go downhill. Ever heard of Postmodernism, anyone?

Randomness

2010-09-16T22:40:00.001-05:00

My delphinium earlier this summer. I love that plant.

So today I was going on my merry way down the freeway, when all the sudden, this person forgot that when you merge, you don't have the right of way. After forcing me out of my lane and nearly creating the worst car accident in world history, the aforesaid driver proceeded to swear/display ungenteel hand signals/etc at yours truly. Now you're probably thinking I'd better get a life/toughen up for making such a big deal about the fiasco, well maybe you're right, but the story gets rather funny. Before I got off the freeway, we saw up ahead that the driver took the same exit as we normally do. As it turns out, they ended up driving down the very street we live on.
I've never stalked somebody before (really, I haven't), but we had a pretty good time guessing what that driver was thinking as they probably thought that's what I was doing. As they turned down a side street near my house, I was quite tempted to go drive through my neighborhood looking for any black SUV's parked in driveways, but I decided against it. It'd be slightly awkward if they recognized me. :-)
I remember mentioning that I planned to post more on here as I could count it as writing assignments for school. Well, the topics I came up with are incredibly boring, even for this blog. How exactly do you make an explanation for why the Renaissance started in Italy engaging? Anyways, speaking of posting on here, Maddie & I were collaborating about possible Junto books, and I think a decision will be anounced soon. (Because I know all 4 of my readers are dying to know)
Right now my family is watching some movie where a doll comes to life and goes around killing people. Did the writers REALLY think we'd find it believable that this little toy could inflict that much damage? Besides, aren't there other movies with similar cheesy, rabid dolls? They always have stupid women, uncannily smart four year olds, and dolls that appear to die by burning in the end, but later return in sequals. (Ok, now this movie is reminding me of Terminator) LAME. Why is my family still watching this?
Lately the weather has become very fall-ish. The days are clear and windy, the temperatures are cooler, and the leaves are changing. September is one of the best months in Wisconsin, if you ask me. I think it's high time for a corn maze and bonfire. I remember one corn maze we went to that was shaped like the logo of the Green Bay Packers. I know, I know.........
Food for thought, a la Jonathan Edwards (I love this theologian): "Religion, in its purity, is not so much a pursuit as a temper; or rather it is a temper, leading to the pursuit of all that is high and holy. Its foundation is faith; its action, works; its temper, holiness; its aim, obedience to God in improvement of self, and benevolence to men."

Consistency of character

2010-09-05T17:40:00.000-05:00

Harvey Newcomb:

The beauty of the Christian character greatly depends on its symmetrical proportions. A person may be very zealous in some things, and yet quite defective in his Christian character; and the probability is, that he has no more religion than shows itself in its consistent proportions. The new energy imparted by the regenerating grace of God may unite itself with the strong points of his character, and produce a very prominent development; while, in regard to those traits of character which are naturally weak, in his constitutional temperament, grace may be scarcely perceptible. For instance, a person who is naturally bold and resolute will be remarkable, when converted, for his moral courage; while, perhaps, he may be very deficient in meekness. And the one who is naturally weak and irresolute will, perhaps, be remarkable for the mild virtues, but very deficient in strength and energy of character. The error lies in cultivating, almost exclusively, those Christian graces which fall in with our prominent traits of character. We should rather bend our energies, by the grace of God, chiefly to the development of those points of character which are naturally weak, while we discipline, repress, and bring under control, those which are too prominent. This will prevent deformity, and promote a uniform consistency of character.

(The Young Lady's Guide, pp. 79-80)

First day of school

2010-08-30T18:32:00.001-05:00

Even after I started homeschooling, the first day of school has always frighteningly exciting for me. Don't ask why...

This summer, we worked on fixing up this oddly-shaped room in our house, previously an office, and I'm using it this year as my "study" for schoolwork. My grandmother's old desk in our back porch and a bookcase from IKEA have been appropriated by yours truly for school purposes. ;-) That, with a window looking out to the front garden & street (you know, so that you can ~~spy on neighbors~~ unwind during 5 minute breaks) makes the room a very pleasant place in which to spend 8 hours of the day. In fact, I was so excited about it, I took a picture of it all nice and clean before I started school this morning:

I'm still incredibly embarassed about that list of 24 books I made out last year......this year's is 15. And since I know you're dying to see what's on it, here ya go -

Erasmus, The Praise of Folly
Machiavelli, The Prince
Luther, The Bondage of the Will
2 Shakespeare plays (Hamlet & A Midsummer Night's Dream)
More, Utopia
Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
Milton, Paradise Lost
Swift, Gulliver's Travels
Edwards, A Narrative of the Surprising Work of God
Voltaire, Candide
Paine, Common Sense
Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
The Autobiography of Ben Franklin

So right now I'm reading The Praise of Folly, Erasmus's satire on the foolishness of the ostentatious scholars/rulers/clergy of his day. Well, knowing that Erasmus wrote it, I was quite petrified to read it. You know, it's just going to be a bunch of illegible Renaissance Humanism. As it turns out, however, it's actually very funny! There were several times today that I laughed out loud (I have a total weakness for dry, sarcastic humor). Need proof?

[Folly is speaking] "In general I think I show a good deal more discretion than the general run of gentry and scholars, whose distorted sense of modesty leads them to make a practice of bribing some sycophantic speaker or babbling poet hired for a fee so that they can listen to him praising their merits, purely fictitious though these are. The bashful listener spreads his tail-feathers like a peacock and carries his head high, while the brazen flatterer rates this worthless individual with the gods and sets him up as the perfect model of all the virtues - though the man himself knows he is nowhere near that; "infinity doubled" would not be too far away." (p. 11)

The "infinity doubled" phrase did me in. Please tell me you laughed too. :-)

All in all, I pronounce this to be a very good first day of school. Let's hope the rest of the year is half as enjoyable.

Travelling, ect.

2010-08-15T00:14:00.000-05:00

Last week I was in Illinois with my mom for a conference and this week I'll be up north visiting relatives. Therefore the lack of posting around here. It'll be a nice way to relax before school starts again. (What happened to this summer?)

At the conference, we heard Susan Wise Bauer speak, and she mentioned that highschoolers ought to do 2 essay/papers/some-type-of-assignment-that-has-an-opinion a week, so maybe I'll make one a blog post. A desperate attempt to keep blogging, I know. There's weeks where you're on a roll, full of ideas to write about, and there's others where you feel totally uninspired. I guess the only way to remedy that is to keep practicing writing.

Speaking of school, this year I'm studying Renaissance-Enlightenment history/great books/etc. Totally excited. The Renaissance/Reformation era is one of my favorites. Yes, the former was full of humanism and earthly-mindedness, but without it, the latter couldn't have survived. One of the things I soon began to appreciate when we started homeschooling was how we studied secular and church history simultaneously. (i.e., the King Ahasuerus whom Esther married was quite possibly the Xerxes who was involved in the Greek-Persian Wars)

Anyways, I hope to get some nice pictures while I'm gone (I got a new camera!), so if any are good, maybe I'll post some when I get back.

To close, wisdom from my favorite author:

Accustom yourselves to holy thoughts. Serious meditation represents everything in its true color. It shows the evil of sin, and the luster of grace. By holy thoughts, the head grows clearer and the heart better: "I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto your testimonies" (Psalm 119:59). If men would step aside a little out of the noise and hurry of business, and spend only half-an-hour every day thinking about their souls and eternity, it would produce a wonderful alteration in them! (Thomas Watson)

Isaiah 52:7-10

2010-08-01T23:40:00.000-05:00

How lovely on the mountains
         Are the feet of him who brings good news,
         Who announces peace
         And brings good news of happiness,
         Who announces salvation,
         And says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

    Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices,
         They shout joyfully together;
         For they will see with their own eyes
         When the LORD restores Zion.

    Break forth, shout joyfully together,
         You waste places of Jerusalem;
         For the LORD has comforted His people,
         He has redeemed Jerusalem.

    The LORD has bared His holy arm
         In the sight of all the nations,
         That all the ends of the earth may see
         The salvation of our God.

What must it have been like to be an Old Testament member of God's church? These verses make me wonder how it must have been to be waiting in anticipation for the coming Messiah. We today seem to take the Incarnation for granted. It'd be interesting to have been there when Christ's disciples finally figured out that not only had the Messiah come, but He was God. It's downright stunning that God would become one of us and take the punishment we deserved for offending Him.

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God....."

1 John 3:1

Convicting.

2010-07-25T22:42:00.000-05:00

We have not known thee as we ought,
Nor learned thy wisdom, grace and pow'r;
The things of earth have filled our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing thee.

We have not feared thee as we ought,
Nor bowed beneath thine awful eye,
Nor guarded deed, and word, and thought,
Remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know thee near,
And grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not loved thee as we ought,
Nor cared that we are loved by thee;
Thy presence we have coldly sought,
And feebly longed thy face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
To feel and own the love thou art.

We have not served thee as we ought;
Alas! the duties left undone,
The work with little fervor wrought,
The battles lost, or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
For thee to toil, for thee to fight.

When shall we know thee as we ought,
And fear, and love, and serve aright!
When shall we, out of trial brought,
Be perfect in the land of light!
Lord, may we day by day prepare
To see thy face, and serve thee there.

(Thomas Pollock)

On Antinomianism

2010-07-23T15:59:00.000-05:00

The Missal by John Waterhouse

Katherine Parr:

Only speaking of the Gospel makes not men good Christians, but good talkers, except [when] their facts and works agree with the same: so then their speech is good because their hearts are good. And even as much talk of the word of God, without practicing the same in our living, is evil and detestible in the sight of God, so it is a lamentable thing to hear how there are many in the world that do not well digest the reading of scripture, and do commend and praise ignorance, and say that much knowledge of God's word is the original of all dissension, schisms, and contention, and makes men haughty, proud, and presumptuous by reading of the same.

This manner of saying is no less than a plain blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. For the Spirit of God is the author of his word, and so the Holy Ghost is made the author of evil, which is a most great blasphemy and (as the scripture saith) "a sin that shall not be forgiven in this world, neither in the other to come" [Matt. 12:32]. It were all our parts and duties to procure and seek all the ways and means possible, to have more knowledge of God's word set forth abroad in the world, and not allow ignorance, and discommend knowledge of God's word, stopping the mouths of the unlearned with subtle and crafty persuasions of philosophy and sophistry, whereof comes no fruit, but a great perturbation of mind to the simple and ignorant, not knowing which way to turn them. For how is it not extreme wickedness to charge the holy, sanctified word of God with the offenses of man? To allege the scriptures to be perilous learning, because certain readers thereof fall into heresies?

(The Lamentation of a Sinner, chapter 10)

No doubt Katherine Parr had the Catholics of her day in mind as she wrote the above words, but they still stand relevant today. Sins have a nasty habit of recurring through the years: In the Middle Ages, the Roman church discouraged laymen from reading the Bible, asserting that only the allegedly well-trained clergy was capable of reading it correctly; today, Evangelicalism is infiltrated with the belief that "doctrine divides."

Summer Miscellanies

2010-07-05T17:48:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, I discovered the new stats tab on my blogger dashboard. Whoa, is it fun. In the past month, my brilliant blog had somewhere around 40 page views. And half were me. I know, TRAFFIC OVERLOAD.....
There's 2 nice things about having an unread blog: a. You don't have to worry about what everyone thinks of what you say, and b. having a popularity complex is a problem you won't be dealing with for a while.....
It's very difficult to get algae out of swimming pools.
Maddie was over at my house on Saturday, and being the nerdy duo that we are, we went to Half Price Books. There, I spotted a couple of sets of books put out by one of the coolest publishers in the whole entire world. Every single book of theirs is a work of art. So are their prices. Ah well.
The best summer project, a la Jonathan Edwards: "Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before."
Ok, only nerds like me will appreciate this one. The other day I came across an article about a painting I've often seen of Ophelia from Hamlet. Apparently, a lady found the exact location of the setting the artist painted. Wow.

Dante's Inferno

2010-07-02T18:48:00.004-05:00

Through me the way to the infernal city,

Through me the way to eternal sadness,

Through me the way to the lost people.

Justice moved my supreme maker,

I was shaped by divine power,

By highest wisdom, and by primal love.

Before me, nothing was created

That is not eternal, and eternally I endure.

Abandon all hope, you that enter here.

(Canto 3, lines 1-9)

Imagine yourself wandering, lost, in a creepy forest and suddenly you happen upon Virgil, who takes you to a gateway that has these words hanging over it. Sound like a fun tourist trap? Ehhhh.....

Botticelli's chart of Hell

Despite it's ominous first section, The Inferno quickly engaged my interest. I mean, who isn't fascinated by delightful things like demons pecking victims immersed in pitch or heretics entombed in blazing sarcophagi? Yeah, no one, I know. All ~~joking~~ profundity aside, I've often noticed that we humans have an interest in morbidity. Just like the Romans who flooded the Colosseum for the gladiator games and the medieval peasants enthralled by burning heretics, we modern, post-enlightenment, liberated-from-superstition people are still drawn to it. Ever noticed how popular horror flicks or ghost stories are?

The layout of Dante's hell makes the book a masterpiece in and of itself. The entire time I was reading The Inferno, I kept asking myself, "How did this guy come up with this stuff?!" According to the book, Hell is divided into two main sections and three types of sins - Upper Hell (the sins of incontinence or lack of self control) and Nether Hell (the sins of violence and fraud).

In Upper Hell are found those characterized by lust, gluttony, stinginess & extravagance, and wrath. In case you were wondering, no, the punishments here aren't that creative. However, it does contain my favorite: the misers and the spendthrifts, who have been strategically placed in the same circle, are their own punishment. All day long they bicker about the spending of eachother's money (or lack thereof) and throw stones at one another. Brilliant, Dante, brilliant.

The sins of violence come right after the aforesaid circle of the heretics and the people found there aren't quite what you would think of as particularly violent. There's the obvious murderers and suicides, but then there's those who are destructive towards God and the order He designed for His creation - profligates, usurers, blasphemers, etc. By far, however, the largest section of Hell is the sins of fraud. Dante includes a wide range of sins here, including flatterers, hypocrites, sorcerers, thieves, liars, and counselors of fraud.

When I got to the end of the story, I got a major case of heebie jeebies. In the last layer stands a gigantic Satan, whose three heads continually tear up the three most heinous traitors to their lords: Brutus, Cassius, and (dum dum dum!) Judas. Virgil and Dante end up having to climb down Satan's hairy body to get out of Hell. YEESH.

As Dante was a medieval Catholic, most people, as did myself, assume that his book is full of Catholicism. While it definitely is present, the more prominent force is Greek philosophy. For example, Dante got his inspiration for the organization of Hell from Aristotle, whose book on ethics laid out which sins were more destructive than others. Also, it's important to understand that the book is an allegory, like Pilgrim's Progress, and the punishments therin are images of how pernicious sin is in our lives. (Dante wasn't so concieted as to believe that he knew how the otherworld is set up :-) The biggest problem I had with Dante's assessment of which sin is worse than the other is in the beginning. In the first (and least serious) layer he places The Futile - those who knew about Christ but never did anything about it. The Bible clearly states that the sin of unbelief is one of the worst you can commit.

Overall, though, this book is definitely one of my favorites. It made me think. Although I'm unquestionably not a poetic type of person, I have a weekness for epics, and this is hands down one of the best. But I probably wouldn't have appreciated it as much if I didn't read the edition I did - Dorothy Sayers' translation was fun to read (it rhymed!) and her notes brought to my attention many things I never would have noticed. I highly reccomend it!

Dear blog, I haven't forgotten you...

2010-06-30T23:00:00.001-05:00

....summer projects have been taking up my time. For the past 2 weeks or so we've been completely re-doing a back room in our house and it's finally starting to shape up. {Nota Bene - don't ever assume wallpaper simply glides off drywall. Reality is quite the opposite.....}

Dolce far Niente by John Waterhouse

I've been meaning to post more about The Warden but it's been difficult to get to. As this is the case, I think I'll just finish the book and post about it when I'm done. Is it just this book or do Anthony Trollope's stories have really sloooowww beginnings? I heard he and Dickens were similar writers, but so far, they seem incredibly different. Dickens usually grabs my attention right away.

Since summer's here, I've made a list of books I'd like to try reading before school starts up again. The Lord of the Rings, The Twelve Caesars, Five Cities That Ruled the World, Living for God's Glory, and Anne Dutton's Autobiography are some that I'm really excited about. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off!

I hope yours is a relaxing summer!

The Warden? Oh yeah.....

2010-06-14T23:31:00.000-05:00

I don't even remember when I said I was going to start reading this book.....maybe it's better that way. Boy am I pathetic. Oh well. I'm not too far into The Warden yet, but I was starting to stress out over how lazy I am on here so 2 chapters is better than nothing, right?

So far, the characters don't seem to be as brilliant as those in Bronte or Dickens. Maybe Villette has me addicted to 1st person narratives.

Anyways, so far, the character that stands out to me most is Dr. Grantly. Who is Dr. Grantly? Well, allow me to give you a short family run down of the main character - Septimus Harding. Mr. Harding, a widower, has 2 daughters - the elder is maried and the much younger one still at home. One of Mr. Harding's best friends is the bishop of the diocese, and the bishop's son, Dr. Grantly, is married to Mr. Harding's daughter. Dr. Grantly, that worthy man, is an archdeacon in the Anglican church and his is an awe-inspiring, conservative, puritanical personality. The people of the town almost live in fear of him. But when he's at home with his wife, he miraculously reverts to being a normal person! It is his wife alone who seems to know his opinions, fears, observations, etc. To everyone else, he is rigid and cold. That dual personality cracks me up!

The aforesaid Septimus Harding is almost the opposite of Dr. Grantly. Everyone loves him - he's warm and friendly, chatty, and open minded. Simple things are what please him most, and he is especially fond of music. He's in charge of a charity hospital (it's really more like a senior home) which houses 12 elderly men. This institution was founded back in the middle ages and as time has gone by, it's become a very valuable bit of property. Mr. Harding, however, is generous and even lowerd his personal salary in order to give more to his men in Hiram's Hospital.

As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Harding's younger daughter, Eleanor, still lives at home. But maybe not for long. In the town, Barchester, there is a young surgeon named John Bold, who admires Eleanor. As he is a friend of her father, John Bold often comes to visit them in the evening. Dr. Grantly, however, doesn't entirely approve of the match - John Bold is a zealous, progressive reformist.

Tension rises when Bold's new cause is a matter of how the funds are being spent at Hiram's Hospital. He shocks several in town when he comes to inquire after the Hospital's accounting. Dr. Grantly is scandalized and Mr. Harding is hurt. And I have no clue what happens next.

This quest for the holy grail, i.e. the truth of how the hospital is run, looks like it's the main conflict in the story. John Bold's eagerness for reform brings up a good question - which causes are worth our time campaigning for? There's an organization for everything from drinking milk to self-esteem to recycling to being nice to our pets. And which should we concern ourselves with? As Christians, our primary focus should be God's glory and advancing His kingdom. That cause will be here till the end of the earth, and whole lifetimes can be and are filled by doing so. It's so easy to become sidetracked by secular causes and forget about serving in the church, evangelism, discipleship, etc.

So, where is the balance between the sacred and the mundane? I have two humble ideas. First, (obviously) we should take care that we never involve ourselves in something that would be contrary to what God says in His Word. Second, activities that could potentially point others to Christ seem to be better choices than others. For example, volunteering at a pregnancy center or supporting a child in a third world country might open doors to evangelism, whereas promoting ethanol usage is sort of a dead end. I'm not saying you should never do the latter kind of thing (the last thing I want to do is be legalistic!), but the former seems to have so much more potential for good you can do others.

Well, my mind has ~~blessedly~~ run out of things to say, so, until next week, adieu!

On the importance of miracles in the Gospels

2010-06-01T14:27:00.000-05:00

Gresham Machen:

"It may certainly be admitted that if the New Testament narrative had no miracles in it, it would be far easier to believe. The more commonplace a story is, the easier it is to accept it as true. But commonplace narratives have little value. The New Testament without any narratives would be far easier to believe. But the trouble is, it would not be worth believing. Without the miracles the New Testament would contain an account of a holy man - not a perfect man, it is true, for He was led to make lofty claims to which He had no right - but a man at least far holier than the rest of men. But of what benefit would such a man, and the death of which marked His failure, be to us? The loftier be the example which Jesus set, the greater becomes our sorrow at our failure to attain to it; and the greater our hopelessness under the burden of sin. The sage of Nazareth may satisfy those who have never faced the problem of evil in their own lives; but to talk about an ideal to those who are under the thralldom of sin is a cruel mockery. Yet if Jesus was merely a man like the rest of men, then an ideal is all we have in Him. Far more is needed by a sinful world. It is small comfort to be told that there was goodness in the world, when what we need is goodness triumphant over over sin. But goodness triumphant over sin involves an entrance of the creative power of God, and that creative power of God is manifested by the miracles. Without the miracles, the New Testament might be easier to believe. But the thing that would be believed would be entirely different from that which presents itself to us now. Without the miracles, we should have a teacher; with the miracles we have a Savior."

(Christianity & Liberalism, pp. 103-104)

Hither and thither

2010-05-17T15:00:00.002-05:00

John Waterhouse, A Grecian Flower Market

I recently finished reading The Rule of St. Benedict. Whooaaaaaaa. I'm so glad I'm Protestant. Those monasteries are something else, let me tell ya. For instance, there was a no talking rule. Even if you had guests or a hoity toity bishop or something there, you'd be in deep yogurt* for speaking to them. (Obviously, these monasteries are for men....women wouldn't survive for 5 minutes with no chit chat) Also, you had to go to prayer services around 7 times a day. That meant waking up in the middle of the night. Yeesh. Usually I'm a pretty laid back person, but let me tell you, if I have a bad night's sleep, watch out! Yeah, so I'd never make it there.
For all those who like the game Monopoly, you'll like it even more after reading this article. Surprising, huh?
The school year's coming to a close. Remember when I mentioned in September that I made the mother of all reading lists? Well, that mamoth number of 24 books has now been whittled down to 15. Funny how that happens. What was I thinking? [shaking head]
I love the paintings done by John Waterhouse. It's probably because his subjects are mostly of legends or the myths of my beloved Classical world. Ahhh. Do any of my 3 readers have a favorite painter?
Charles Spurgeon had a great morning devotional for today.

*"deep yogurt" is a phrase easily recognized by anyone who's taken an IEW course. Mr. Pudewa is awesome.

The Road to Emmaus

2010-05-16T14:54:00.000-05:00

"Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, "What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?" And they stood still, looking sad. One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, "Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?" And He said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. "But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. "Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see." And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, "The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon." They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread."

Luke 24:13-35

My litterary hall of shame....or....The books I wish I didn't bother reading

2010-05-14T16:04:00.001-05:00

THIS COULD BE YOU

In no particular order:

The Mysteries of Udolpho. Ok, well, I'm sort of glad I read this one, because I kept hearing about it in Jane Austen and such. But boy, was this one a doozy. The character line-up includes a flighty heroine, a hero who eerily resembles John Willoughby in Sense & Sensibility, an aunt perpetually having a bad day, and the evil Count Montoni (he was really mean). It also boasts one of the sappiest plots ever. In parts where Mrs. Radcliffe intended for me to cry, I usually ended up laughing like a madwoman.
Wuthering Heights. Perhaps one of my 3 readers has already noticed my disdain for this book. Cathy has too much of an attitude for me to sympathize with her, Heathcliff must be mad, and what is with the cousin marriage at the end? {shiver} Besides that, the tone of the book is so dreary that you feel depressed after each time you read it. And don't get me started on the plot...
The Inheritance (Louisa May Alcott). This one makes Udolpho look serious. Also, if you've read Little Women, this would most definitely be the book Jo wrote. Features include archaic language complete with "thee" and "thou" usage and a predictable plot. Its one of the rare occasions when the movie is better than the book.
Messenger. Lois Lowry is too out there. Unless you like books that don't make sense and end bleakly with conclusions that make you scratch your head.
Gilgamesh. The ancient Sumerians had strange, strange minds. Nuff said.

I would have included Twilight here, but as I haven't had the horror of reading the series, I didn't think it'd be fair to include a book I haven't read. :D

Rutherford's Hymn

2010-04-25T13:02:00.002-05:00

The sands of time are sinking,
The dawn of heaven breaks,
The summer morn I've sighed for,
The fair sweet morn awakes;
Dark, dark, hath been the midnight,
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

The King there in his beauty
Without a veil is seen;
It were a well-spent journey
Though seven deaths lay between:
The Lamb with his fair army
Doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

O Christ, he is the fountain,
The deep sweet well of love!
The streams on earth I've tasted
More deep I'll drink above:
There to an ocean fullness
His mercy doth expand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel's land.

The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of grace;
Not at the crown he gifteth,
But on his pierced hand:
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel's land.

Primavera

2010-04-24T23:05:00.000-05:00

On three unrelated notes...

Sorry about falling off the face of the blogosphere. In the past few weeks I was busy planning a surprise party for Callie (which turned out great!), racing to try to end the school year well, helping out with errands and such while tax season plagued my mom, and then there was the death of an old friend of the family. So next week, I'll try to return to my regularly unscheduled blogging. I promise to write a Junto post. :D
Do you ever associate books (particularly fiction) with seasons? With spring here, all I can think about is Robin Hood. Summer would get The Odyssey and Fall, Persuasion. Not sure about winter.....anything depressing I guess (Wuthering Heights?).
This has me almost as giddy as a 12 year old girl who's won tickets to a Justin Bieber concert. I can't wait till it comes out!

What I did today

2010-04-07T23:10:00.002-05:00

No, nothing exciting. But some of the ordinary stuff was sort of funny.

Lately there's been a warm spell around here, so my mom and I have been trying to go walking each morning. Well, today was a cold, rainy day (welcome to spring in WI ), so we decided to expand our horizons: We joined the mall walkers. Boy, was that an experience. We walked in, confident but slightly concerned that it might not be as big of a work out because there aren't any hills and stuff. But then reality set in. The place was full of power walkers! Ten minutes into it, mom and I, forced to walk faster than we usually do, were about to fall over. And then we saw some senior citizens, with a walker booking it in front of us! Yeah, so we only made it around 2 1/2 times, suffering and thoroughly humiliated. ;-)

Later on, I was reading The Year 1000 for school, and I came across this:

There was no concept of antiseptic at all. If a morsel of food fell off your plate, the advice of one contemporary document was to pick it up, make the sign of the cross over it, season it well - and then eat it.

The sign of the cross was the antiseptic of the year 1000.

Oh my goodness. I knew nobody knew about germs, but that they were that "earthy"? No wonder people died at 30!

Then, after church, we went to Walmart. In the check-out line, Mary spotted this:

You saw it right. I think this one doesn't require comment. Sorry if the picture's blurry - I was laughing too hard to keep the camera steady.

Today was interesting.

The Resurrection

2010-04-04T17:25:00.001-05:00

O God of my Exodus,

Great was the joy of Israel’s sons,

when Egypt died upon the shore,

Far greater the joy

when the Redeemer’s foe lay crushed

in the dust.

Jesus strides forth as the victor,

conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing

might;

He bursts the bands of death,

tramples the powers of darkness down,

and lives for ever.

He, my gracious surety,

apprehended for payment of my debt,

comes forth from the prison house of the grave

free, and triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.

Show me herein the proof that his vicarious offering

is accepted,

that the claims of justice are satisfied,

that the devil’s sceptre is shivered,

that his wrongful throne is levelled.

Give me the assurance that in Christ I died,

in him I rose,

in his life I live, in his victory I triumph,

in his ascension I shall be glorified.

Adorable Redeemer,

thou who wast lifted up upon a cross

art ascended to highest heaven.

Thou, who as Man of sorrows

wast crowned with thorns,

art now as Lord of life wreathed with glory.

Once, no shame more deep than thine,

no agony more bitter,

no death more cruel.

Now, no exaltation more high,

no life more glorious,

no advocate more effective.

Thou art in the triumph car leading captive

thine enemies behind thee.

What more could be done than thou hast done!

Thy death is my life,

thy resurrection my peace,

thy ascension my hope,

thy prayers my comfort.

(The Valley of Vision)

I recant...

2010-03-30T20:26:00.007-05:00

...what I said earlier on about the next Junto book.

Maddie & I were really excited about Quo Vadis when we first decided to try it. But then we started reading it. It isn't overwhelmingly interesting and seems a little odd. Maybe it will turn out to be a great book, but we'd rather do a book that we're confident will be good. So we've changed our literary choice again. :-)

The current book is now The Warden by Anthony Trollope. From what I've read, it's the story of a minister, named Septimus Harding, who is in charge of a charity in town. A newcomer to the area becomes suspicious of how the warden is managing the tithes he receives, and sets out to put everything to right. The only thing that keeps him from outright condemning the minister, however, is that he likes Mr. Harding's daughter! What a predicament!

The book is the first in a series of six chronicling the lives of the people living in the area, but for now we're just going to stick to reading the first - it's pretty short (just over 200 pages) so we're going to read it in the month of April.

Well, I've got to run......I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely spring weather!

4 Things

2010-03-27T01:12:00.001-05:00

My uncle has been staying with us for the past few days, and introduced us to Blokus. Oh my (not) goodness. I'm irreversibly addicted. Who knew that connecting a bunch of random shapes of squares together could be so entertainingly strategic? Ahhhhhhhh......
Speaking of epiphanies, the other day I was hanging out on Wikipedia (yeah, yeah, I know, it's up there with reading the dictionary.....which I'm also a culprit of), and to my utter joy, I discovered IT IS AVAILABLE IN LATIN. Then I looked and, behold, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikiquote, etc. etc. were the same! It was nearly too much excitement for me to handle at once. Despite my -300 vocabulary count of Latin words, it's pretty fun to go through all the articles pretending you understand what's being said. See, nerds do have fun. :-)
These look like some pretty cool notebooks. When I finally make it to Europe, I'm definitely going to bring one along! The whole concept of a city guide combined with a travel journal strikes me as indisputably brilliant.
A week ago my pastor preached a great sermon on a topic you rarely hear about these days in most churches - the necessity of being wary of false christs. Perversions of Christianity are incredibly more dangerous than false religions because it's hard to detect them. They're like rat poison - 99% of it is food, but the remaining 1% is pernicious and toxic enough to destroy you. We really do have to be "as shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16)

Great literature

2010-03-11T10:00:00.007-06:00

A while back I found this story I wrote from 5th grade - back in the day when writing class was the bane of my existence. Ha.

Once there was this old woman who was a grandma and she was the type that drove REALLY slowly, and that people would honk at. So, one day she sent her favorite granddaughter a set of her favorite book series. Since she was old, she forgot to put any clue of who it was from on the package.

When her grandaughter got it, she got really excited and went straight to her sunny bedroom to read her new books. Two days later, she realized that she should send a thank-you note to the person who sent it. So, since she had saved the package, she began to look for any identification.

Since there was none, she was really confused because she couldn't tell who it was from. (She was only 11 1/2 and 22 days old so it wasn't like she was an agent from the FBI or CIA or something, though she was pretty bright. For a blond.) One day Granny decided to come over for a visit. On her way on the 35 mph road, she was going at like 2mph so tons of people were honking and skipping her. Man, was she s-l-o-w! When she finally got there, Martha, (her granddaughter,) ran to the door to greet her. When she asked her how she liked the books she sent her, Martha realized that it was her grandmother who gave her the books and told her about them. And, as usual, they lived happily ever after. The end.

I know, this ought to be admitted into the short stories section of the Great Books canon.

3 Observations -

This is back in the day when I was strangely obsessed with ~~frumpy~~ really old fashioned names. Who the heck has been named Martha after 1990?!?! No offense to anyone who is. Cough.
The main character (the aforesaid Martha) eerily resembles myself at the date of "publication" - yours truly was
- 11 1/2 (not sure about the 22 days),
- liked to read and was obsessed with the Mandie series,
- always wanted a "sunny bedroom,"
- probably would disappear for several days upon receiving a box full of books,
- saved packaging from presents,
- had blond hair,
- and I still have a problem with getting thank-you notes to people.
Wow. I had forgotten about how sarcastic I was.

Anyways, I also used my magnificent artistic skills and illustrated my story.....

Granny's wrinkles sort of look like cut marks. That'd be sort of weird to have an emo grandmother.......

Martha seems to be missing a leg. I wonder how that happened.

Ahh, the discoveries made from the past.

The Queen of Sheba

2010-03-08T18:41:00.000-06:00

The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba

Charles Spurgeon:

Queens have many cares, multitudes of occupations and engagements, but the Queen of Sheba neither considered it beneath her dignity to search into the wisdom of Solomon, nor a waste of valuable time to journey into his dominions. How many offer the vain excuse that they cannot give due attention to the religion of Jesus Christ for want of time; they have a large family, or a very difficult business to manage. This woman rebukes such, for she left her kingdom, and threw off the cares of state to take a long journey, that she might listen to the royal sage.

Her royal court was, doubtless, already stored with wisdom. The princes of the Eastern realms were always careful to gather to themselves a band of wise men, who found in their patronage both subsistence and honor. In the court of so great a lover of learning as was the Queen of Sheba, there would certainly be a congress of magi and wise men; but she was not content with what she knew already, she was determined to search after this Divine wisdom, of which she had heard the fame. In this she rebukes those of you who think you know enough; who suppose that your own home-spun intelligence will suffice, without sitting at the feet of Jesus. If you dream that human wisdom can be a sufficient light without receiving the brighter beams of revelation; if you say, "These things are for the unintelligent and poor, we will not listen to them," this queen, whose court was full of wisdom, and yet who leaves it all to find the wisdom which God had given to Solomon, rebukes you. The wisdom of Jesus Christ as much surpasses all human knowledge as the sun outshines a candle. Comparison there can be none, contrast there is much. He who will not come to the fountain which brims with wisdom, but trusts to his own leaking cisterns, shall wake up too late to find himself a fool.

On medieval kings and the blogosphere

2010-02-28T15:55:00.007-06:00

Has any of my three readers ever been struck by the utter randomness of medieval king-naming conventions? Take the French, for instance. First, we have Charlemagne. Although the "the great" suffix is a classic cliche, it isn't as bad as it could be because they actually incorporate it into his first name. Pretty nifty, if I dare say so myself. Next there's Louis the Pious. He sounds like a nice kind of guy. Then there's my personal favorite, Charles Martel. There are several reasons for this:

This is a nice usage of foreign language - "Martel" is french for hammer, which brings me to....
It's got a historical incident behind it - because of his crushing defeat of the Muslims at Tours, people likened him to the aforesaid tool, and finally,
How many people have a metaphor in their name? Major points for such inovative creativity.

However, not so many kings were this lucky. Members of the hall of shame would include Pepin the Short, Charles the Bald, Louis the Stammerer and Charles the Fat. Wow, these poor guys' subjects must have had it in for them. How would you like to go down in history with a name like that? They obviously must have had high taxes.

I could go on and on about Viking names, but I think we'd all agree that they were pretty original in that department.

Moving on........I want to mention that my sister, Mary now has a blog. She's a lot funnier/more interesting than I am, so I'm risking losing my meager readership by mentioning it here. On top of that, she has this amazing ability to come up with an entertaining post on an unpromising topic. I wish I knew where she gets that from. Sigh.

Junto Update

2010-02-26T16:27:00.004-06:00

Maddie and I, after discovering that the probability of our finishing a fiction Junto book was higher than that of a non-fiction one, have decided we're going to read another novel this time around. After much deliberation, we're going to do Quo Vadis by Henrik Sienkiewicz. In English, don't worry. ;-)

Here's what I know of the plot (the majority of which was found on the back of the book and Wikipedia....I know, I have great researching skills): A Roman patrician (aristocrat) falls in love with a Christian woman durring the Neronian persecutions. Apparently Peter & Paul make appearances too. I have no idea about anything else, except that there is a very strong pro-Christian theme. So all in all, from what I know, this book sounds marvelous! At least, I think so......the fact that it takes place in Rome grabbed me at the beginning. My friends have learned to dread the moment that Greece or Rome may come up in a conversation.......I have a slight obsession with the topic. Oh well. Thanks Maddie for putting up with me!

Well, I've gotta run, so sorry for a short post. Happy reading!

Jane Grey

2010-02-12T22:27:00.007-06:00

Lady Jane Grey is a historical figure that - since I read her biography several years ago - I've always felt a connection with. Her academic and theological accomplishments, spiritual steadfastness, and willingness to accept whatever Providences befell her are things that I've always been drawn to and admire. Further than that, however, is that it's likely that we share the same birthday. Normally I wouldn't go bragging about something like that on my blog (who cares, anyways? ;-), but today that fact has been on my mind for a different reason - I'm the age she was when she died. Could I face the same gruesome death the way she did? The following is an account of the last moments of her life.

His [Guilford's, Jane's husband who was executed before her] carcass thrown into a cart, and his head in a cloth, he was brought to the chapel within the Tower, where the Lady Jane, whose lodging was in Partidge's house, did see his dead carcass taken out of the cart, as well as she did see him before alive on going to his death - a sight to her no less than death. By this time was there a scaffold made upon the green over against the White Tower, for the said Lady Jane to die upon.... The said lady, being nothing abashed....with a book in her hand whereon she prayed all the way till she came to the said scaffold.... First, when she mounted the said scaffold she said to the people standing thereabout: '
Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact, indeed, against the queen's highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency, before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day'
and therewith she wrung her hands, in which she had her book. And then, kneeling down, she turned to Feckenham [a priest who unsuccessfuly tried to convert her] saying, 'Shall I say this psalm?' And he said, 'Yea.' Then she said the psalm of Miserere mei Deus [Psalm 51], in English, in most devout manner, to the end. Then she stood up and gave...Mistress Tilney her gloves and handkerchief, and her book to master Bruges, the lieutenant's brother; forthwith she untied her gown. The hangman went to her to help her therewith; then she desired him to let her alone, and also with her other attire and neckerchief, giving to her a fair handkerchief to knit about her eyes.
Then the hangman kneeled down, and asked her forgiveness, whom she gave most willingly. Then he willed her to stand upon the straw: which doing, she saw the block. Then she said, 'I pray you dispatch me quickly.' Then she kneeled down, saying, 'Will you take it off before I lay me down?' and the hangman answered her, 'No, madame.' She tied the kerchief about her eyes; then feeling for the block said, 'What shall I do? Where is it?' One of the standers-by guiding her thereto, she laid her head down upon the block, and stretched forth her body and said: 'Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!' And so she ended.

Wow.

I don't know about you, but I find those words incredibly haunting. She starts off bravely, willing to face death in the face, but as soon as she can't see and is unable to find the block, the reality seems to set in and she panics. The painting at the beginning of this post portrays that instant of desperation. As if the story wasn't sufficient itself, the painting really makes you feel bad for her.

Enough morbidity. Anyways, I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend one of my favorite books EVER: Lady Jane Grey: The Nine Day Queen of England, by Faith Cook. It's a great read, and the story of this young woman's life could change your own. Do whatever it takes to get your hands on a copy of this book. It's that good.

Villette - chapters 36-42

2010-02-11T17:51:00.002-06:00

First of all, I would like to take this time to mention that this is the first time Maddie and I have finished reading a Junto book. **insert applause here** I'm very proud. ;-)

Well, these last chapters were sort of like a dream to me. Maybe it's the events in the book itself, or if not that, then my reading of it while watching TV with the fam is probably the culprit. :-)

A theme that is especially mentioned in these pages is the relationship between Protestantism and Romanism. Lucy's already been exposed to catholic attempts at converting her, and is especially so at the end of the book. Although she firmly remains Anglican, I was slightly disturbed by her attitude towards "the other side" in chapter 36 -

In the midst of a conversation with M. Paul, Lucy says,
"I would not trouble your faith. You believe in God and Christ and the Bible, and so do I.”
Inward groan.

It's a rather generalized statement. On the surface, it looks like we believe in the same Deity and Bible, but the Catholic view of the two is so flawed that I find it hard to say they're the same. The basis for doctrinal and spiritual harmony between two beliefs is NOT a bare-bones adherence to basic Bible stories. It beats me how you can reconcile works-based and grace-based salvation and say they are basically the same thing.
Later on she says this about M. Paul:
"I thought Romanism wrong, a great mixed image of gold and clay; but it seemed to me that this Romanist held the purer elements of his creed with an innocency of heart which God must love."
The relatively innocent way a man thinks about his mangled view of God does not induce Him to overlook the aforesaid view.
Overall, Lucy's grievances against Roman Catholicism are not so much about salvation and theology proper but reckless clergy. Although Lucy states that she isn't a learned scholar, a child brought up in a Protestant home ought to have been able to discern that the really despicable thing about the Catholic church is not the wayward clergy but its unstable doctrinal foundation - the root of its other problems.
The final thing that bugs me is that Lucy allows herself to fall in love with someone of a different faith. As is clearly stated in the Bible, their union would be an unequally yoked one. A great lesson on the dire need for young people to commit themselves to guarding their hearts - in real life, if Lucy were indeed a born again Christian, her life would turn out to be a very sorrowful one: As Thomas Watson says in his book The Godly Man's Picture, a godly man is one who is concerned with making others godly; when a husband doesn't know Christ, his wife's heart will bleed for his soul.

Enough said. The following is a list of the (literary) things I liked and disliked about this book, in that order:

THE CHARACTERS! Mrs. Bretton, Lucy, Madame Beck and M. Paul will never cease to make me think deeply and laugh crazilly.
THE SETTING! I want to own a summer house in the vicinity of Villette when I grow up and get rich.
THE PSYCHOLOGY! The way Bronte brings you into the inner life of Lucy Snowe was absolutely magnificent. It really made me identify with her.
THE METAPHORS! Ahhhhhhhhhh.......all those allusions to the Bible, mythology, history and literature were brilliant.

Now begins the hall of shame.

The combinations of characters who got married. Lucy & M. Paul didn't get along! That was my one consolation with Graham & Polly - with them, it was at least plausible that they went well together. M. Paul is uncle, father, or (much) older brother - NOT husband - material! [cringe]
The ending. While I liked the idea of Lucy writing the book while waiting for M. Paul to return, what was Bronte thinking, leaving his fate unknown? Argh!
Lucy's past. (or lack thereof) I wish Bronte would have illuminated what was going on in Lucy's life that caused her to go to Villette, other than vaguely mentioning a berevement in the family. Dickens would have cleared that mystery up. ;-)
The aforesaid Protestantism-Catholicism issue.

All in all, while Villette isn't my favorite book, I enjoyed it immensly. Each book has a personality of its own, and just like people, you never forget the out-of-the-ordinary ones. Villette is definitely one of those.

The Word in the Heart

2010-01-31T22:30:00.003-06:00

Charles Spurgeon:

Notice that John not only mentions "the Word of God," but the Word of God "in you." The inspired Word must be received into a willing mind. How? The Book which lies there is to be pleaded here, in the inmost heart, by the work of the Holy Ghost upon the mind. All of this letter has to be translated into spirit and life. "The Word of God abideth in you" - that is, first to know it, - next to remember it and treasure it up in your heart. Following upon this, we must understand it, and learn the analogy of faith by comparing spiritual things with spiritual till we have learned the system of Divine truth, and are able to set it forth and plead for it. It is, next, to have the Word in your affections, to love it so that it is as honey or the droppings of the honeycomb to you. When this is the case, you must and shall overcome the wicked one. A man instructed in the Scriptures is like an armed knight, who when he goes among the throng inflicts many a wound, but suffers none, for he is locked up in steel.

Yes, but that is not all; it is not the Word of God in you alone, it is "the Word of God abideth in you." It is always there, it cannot be removed from you. If a man gets the Bible right into him, he is all right then, because he is full, and there is no room for evil. When you have filled a measure full of wheat, you have effectually shut the chaff out. Men go after novel and false doctrines because they do not really know the truth; for if the truth had gotten into them and filled them, they would not have room for these day-dreams. A man who truly knows the doctrines of grace is never removed from them: I have heard our opponents rave at what they call obstinacy. Once get the truth really into you, it will enter into the texture of your being, and nothing will get it out of you. It will also be your strength, by setting you watching against every evil thing. You will be on your guard if the Word abide in you, for it is written, "When thou goest it will keep thee." The Word of God will be to you a bulwark and a high tower, a castle of defense against the foe. Oh, see to it that the Word of God is in you, in your very soul, permeating your thoughts, and so operating upon your outward life, that all may know you to be a true Bible-Christian, for they perceive it in your words and deeds.

(A Good Start, pp. 107-109)

Villette - chapters 28-35

2010-01-29T15:17:00.003-06:00

Several new developments have occurred in these pages, but they were rather visible afar off.

Graham and Polly like each other. While away on a trip, Polly was present when the mail came and was surprised to receive a letter herself from Graham. In it he apparently professed his admiration of her. Polly wrote back, thanking him and subtly made it known that the sentiments were reciprocated. There are difficulties, however. Paulina's father, Mr. Home, still thinks of and treats her as a child. How will he react when he hears of the secret "thing" between his daughter and Dr. Bretton? [On that note, I wonder what Ginevra will do ;-)]
M. Paul has a high regard for Lucy. Bronte's writing is rather murky on this point - I cant tell whether it's just friendship or love. (I'm hoping for the former because the man is over 40. Ew.) In these chapters you can see their relationship dramatically change: They go from regularly fighting in chapters 28 & 29 to living in mutual peace to - in chapter 35 - M. Paul's offering of his life-long friendship to Lucy.
We also learn about M.Paul's past. Commissioned to take a gift from Madame Beck to a house on the other side of town, Lucy meets up with an odd set of people upon arriving at her destination. The door is opened by an ancient and suspicious maid. The recipient of the gift is an old, malevolent looking lady. And what do you know, but the priest who tried to convert Lucy earlier on turns out to live there too! When a thunderstorm breaks out as Lucy is about to leave, the priest tells a story about two young people in love who were separated over financial differences. The girl, refusing to marry another, became a nun and died shortly afterwards. The young man, forgetting the wrongs done to him, took care of the girl's family after her father died. You guessed it - it's M. Paul. The grouchy old lady is his beloved Justine Marie's grandmother. Being the faithful lover that he was, he has never thought of another woman since.

The legend at the school is that a paranormal apparition - a nun, to be exact - haunts the garret of the building. Lucy has seen it twice - the first being back when Lucy had a crush on Graham. Distressed and lonely, she was sitting in the attic reading a letter of his when the nun appeared floating towards her. The second instance occurred when she was sitting in the alley alone in a contemplative mood. Graham, who got her to confide in him about it, assured Lucy that it was just her nerves doing weird things to her. And she believed it. Until now. M. Paul declares that he has seen it too, and while they talk in the alley, the nun appears! This must be his long lost love. I'm anxious to see what the apparition is all about!

One of the funniest chapters in the book is 29 - M. Paul and Lucy get into one of their trademark fights over a misunderstanding, namely that the day on which it happened was his anniversary of teaching at the school and everyone generally gave him a present, usually a bouquet. Lucy, however, goes against the grain and makes him (what I believe is) a chain for a pocket watch. She didn't get around to giving it to him at the right time, and he takes it as a total rejection. His reaction was downright comic. The whole section had me laughing but I'll close with this choice excerpt -

Owing to some little accidental movement—I think I dropped my thimble on the floor, and in stooping to regain it, hit the crown of my head against the sharp corner of my desk; which casualties (exasperating to me, by rights, if to anybody) naturally made a slight bustle. M. Paul became irritated, and dismissing his forced equanimity, and casting to the winds that dignity and self-control with which he never cared long to encumber himself, he broke forth into the strain best calculated to give him ease.
I don’t know how, in the progress of his discours, he had contrived to cross the Channel and land on British ground; but there I found him when I began to listen.

Casting a quick cynical glance round the room—a glance which scathed, or was intended to scathe, as it crossed me—he fell with fury upon “les Anglaises.”

Never have I heard English women handled as M. Paul that morning handled them. He spared nothing—neither their minds, morals, manners, nor personal appearance. I specially remember his abuse of their tall stature, their long necks, their thin arms, their slovenly dress, their pedantic education, their impious scepticism, their insufferable pride, their pretentious virtue; over which he ground his teeth malignantly, and looked as if, had he dared, he would have said singular things. Oh! he was spiteful, acrid, savage, and, as a natural consequence, detestably ugly.

“Little, wicked, venomous man!” thought I; “am I going to harass myself with fears of displeasing you, or hurting your feelings? No, indeed; you shall be indifferent to me as the shabbiest bouquet in your pyramid.”

I grieve to say I could not quite carry out this resolution. For some time the abuse of England and the English found and left me stolid. I bore it some fifteen minutes stoically enough; but this hissing cockatrice was determined to sting, and he said such things at last—fastening not only upon our women but upon our greatest names and best men, sullying the shield of Britannia and dabbling the Union Jack in mud—that I was stung. With vicious relish he brought up the most spicy current Continental historical falsehoods, than which nothing can be conceived more offensive. Zélie and the whole class became one grin of vindictive delight, for it is curious to discover how these clowns of Labassecour secretly hate England. At last, I struck a sharp stroke on my desk, opened my lips, and let loose this cry,—

“Vive l’Angleterre, l’Histoire et les Héros! A bas la France, la Fiction et les Faquins!” [Long live England, history and heroes! Down with France, fiction and fops!]
The class was struck of a heap. I suppose they thought me mad.

HAHA. I love you, Lucy Snowe.

Villette - chapters 24-27

2010-01-19T22:32:00.004-06:00

In these chapters we are yet again re-acquainted with some characters from before - Paulina & her father.

Two months after her last letter from Graham, Lucy is invited back to the Bretton home with the promise of meeting old acquaintance. Upon arriving there, Lucy and Paulina - who is now 17 - meet again, and gradually a friendship forms. Paulina hasn't forgotten her friendship with Graham, and you can tell that she still has a thing for him. She isn't quite as obnoxious as I believed her to be; fortunately, she's grown into a gracious, amiable, and intelligent young woman.

What do you know, but Paulina and Ginevra are cousins.....and they despise each other. Ginevra's sentiments are similar to my first impressions of Polly; Paulina pretty much thinks of Ginevra the same way that Lucy does. Add to the mix that Graham seems to be showing some attention to Paulina, and boy, I really do pity Lucy for being forced to listen to Ginevra's diatribes about her cousin. Polly, on the other hand, is hurt by Ginevra's unsolicited opinions of Graham and love. Sounds like jealousy to me!

Picking up on this possible attraction between Graham and Paulina, Lucy realizes that she must give any hope of ever getting together with Graham. After discovering that Madame Beck has read his letters, Lucy carefully seals them in a bottle and buries them in the root of a tree in the alley behind the school. Fitting imagery for the burial that takes place in her heart.

Later on, Lucy attends a party at Paulina's hotel. Among the guests are Ginevra, Graham, and M. Paul Emmanuel - a fiery, opinionated teacher at Madame Beck's who is convinced that he has figured Lucy out, and takes on a strange guardian-ish air with her. One of my favorite episodes with him is in chapter 19 where he discovers Lucy at an art gallery gazing skeptically at a pretentious and rather indecent picture entitled Cleopatra. Scandalized that a young lady would have the gall to do such a thing, he marches Lucy into a nondescript corner, scolds her, and goes off to look at the picture himself. That, my readers, is M. Paul Emmanuel.

Returning to the party. While there, we encounter several revalations.

Graham still acts like he is still slightly under the spell of Ginevra. He talks to her, looks at her, and pays her too much attention for somebody "over" her.
Lucy realizes that Graham, although he thinks otherwise, does not understand nor take her seriously. And although she already had performed the aforesaid "burial," the revelation pains her deeply.
M. Paul Emmanuel acts singularly towards Lucy. Although he has a rough exterior, I believe deep down he genuinely likes her. Before they all go home, he is very attentive to Lucy and wants to make peace after a slight argument they had earlier on. I'm interested in seeing how significant he'll be in the rest of the story.

Something I enjoy and appreciate about this book is Bronte's numerous allusions to the Bible, history, literature and mythology. As in Jane Eyre, Villette is full of rich metaphors and similes which can really illuminate the story if you understand the stories behind them.

A belated birthday notice

2010-01-13T22:29:00.007-06:00

January 9th was the 300th birthday of Sarah Edwards, one of my favorite women in history. She was married to Jonathan Edwards, who is considered to be the greatest American theologian. As they say, behind every great man there's a great woman, and this case is no exception! Witty, intelligent, discreet, gracious and godly, she was exactly the kind of wife the contemplative man needed. Obviously he noticed it too, writing his famous quo te about her before they were married, and on his deathbed, he described their marriage as "an uncommon union." I love reading about their relationship.

If anyone's interested in learning more about Mrs. Edwards, I highly recommend this book. As it's written by a secular author, there is a bit of a feminist spin to the writing, but it doesn't substantially detract from the book. Reading this book will always inspire me to imitate her godly character as a young girl and to one day be a wife that is a true helper to her husband. Without Sarah, Jonathan Edwards may not have been able to do for his country what he did.

Something amazing the aforesaid book mentions - by 1900, the Edwards family included 13 college presidents, a plethora of lawyers, deans of medical and law schools, 3 senators, a controller of the U.S. treasury, and a U.S. Vice President.

So, although I'm 4 days late in mentioning this, it's better late than never. These past three hundred years in America turned out the way they did because of this relatively unknown lady. Who knows which of us today will be this influential 300 years from now?

Villette - chapters 16-23

2010-01-11T19:54:00.004-06:00

In these last chapters, the book has become so much better yet! There were some surprising developments and fantastic characters that you get to know better.

I was totally unprepared for the revelation that Dr. John is Graham Bretton. I had begun to wonder how he and his mother fit into the story when I came to this part of the book. Bronte does a phenomenal job of describing these two people - you feel as if you know them yourself.

Graham, alias Dr. John (his name is John Graham Bretton), is an empathetic, considerate, (usually) sensible, cheerful sort of guy. Ginevra is a total airhead for not appreciating him. He does, however, have his faults. Besides the glaring ill-judgment of being infatuated with an idiot, he can be selfish - he's kind to others, and appreciates it when they remind him of it. In spite of this, he is a very pleasing character to read about. He and Lucy begin to develop a good friendship...who knows what will come of it. :-)
Mrs. Bretton. This is the coolest woman ever. Despite her being middle aged, she, as Bronte puts it, still has the youthful air of a twenty year old. Not the midlife crisis immaturity; she's down to earth and her personality still retains the dignity of her age. I love reading the friendly banter that goes back and forth between her and Graham. She's hilariously sarcastic and has the best comebacks; she's rational and sensible; she has an incredibly thick skin. I would love to watch a chick flick with her - her running commentary on the sappiness of the movie would be priceless.

One of the pivotal moments of these chapters is where the three - Mrs. Bretton, Graham, and Lucy - go to a concert in which Ginevra performs. Before it begins, they're sitting and watching the girls onstage, and Ginevra sees Mrs. Bretton and makes fun of her with a friend. Graham is infuriated. As taken as he was with Ginevra, Graham loves his mother more, and at this point he has finally awoken to the flaws of the silly girl. He falls out of "love" with her - the rest of the night, he's in a mirthful mood. No more wistful sighing after Ginevra. (Boy, did I breathe a sigh of relief!) He keeps the incident to himself, not wanting to hurt his mother. It turns out, however, that she saw the whole thing herself and laughed it off. I love this woman.

Later on, after Lucy returns to school, she and Ginevra talk about the incident, and Lucy decides to have fun with her. Here's an abbreviated version of my favorite section -

"How is our well-beloved John? Do tell me about him. The poor man must be in a sad way. What did he say to my behaviour the other night? Wasn’t I cruel? ....Tell me what he said. I saw he was terribly cut up.”

“He said you looked as if at heart you were already Madame de Hamal.”

“Did he?” she cried with delight. “He noticed that? How charming! I thought he would be mad with jealousy......and how ever did you get him home?”

“How ever, indeed! Have you no pity on his poor mother and me? Fancy us holding him tight down in the carriage, and he raving between us, fit to drive everybody delirious. The very coachman went wrong, somehow, and we lost our way.”
“You don’t say so? You are laughing at me. Now, Lucy Snowe——”

“I assure you it is fact—and fact, also, that Dr. Bretton would not stay in the carriage. He broke from us, and would ride outside.”

“And afterwards?”

“Afterwards—when he did reach home—the scene transcends description....you will be able to conceive Dr. Graham Bretton rejecting his supper in the first instance—the chicken, the sweet-bread prepared for his refreshment, left on the table untouched. Then—but it is of no use dwelling at length on the harrowing details. Suffice it to say that never, in the most stormy fits and moments of his infancy, had his mother such work to tuck the sheets about him as she had that night.”

“He wouldn’t lie still?”

“He wouldn’t lie still. There it was. The sheets might be tucked in, but the thing was to keep them tucked in.”

“And what did he say?”

“Say! Can’t you imagine him demanding his divine Ginevra, anathematizing that demon De Hamal, raving about golden locks, blue eyes, white arms, glittering bracelets?”
.....to speak the truth, never had I been less dissatisfied with her than I was then. There was pleasure in thinking of the contrast between the reality and my description—to remember Dr. John enjoying the drive home, eating his supper with relish, and retiring to rest with Christian composure.

Ha!

So that's it for this week. I cant wait to read more!

2010

2010-01-01T20:12:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's been a decade since the "turn of the millennium." Amazing how quickly time goes by. There's something both sad and exciting about a new year - sadness because you can never get time back - all the good times you've had are mere memories now, and all the time you wasted will never be redeemed; it's exciting, however, because you have a whole year ahead of you filled with potentials - you can only guess and speculate on what's going to happen. Only God knows what's in store for us. Isn't that interesting how all the things in the future haven't happened yet, but they exist in God's mind?

Deep philosophical thoughts aside, I'm also surprised at how it's already been a year since I started this blog! I still vividly remember sitting in consternation in the living room, trying to figure out how to write a post. Ha. I hope I have many more years of blogging here yet!

Speaking of blogging, I'm really going to try at getting better with posting more often. Life gets so busy and at the end of the day the thought of using my mind and writing doesn't always appeal to me.........but I'm convinced it's a great way to organize my thoughts, build my skills at writing, and hopefully saying something worthwhile for others! Therefore, one of my New Year's resolutions is to be a better blogger. :-)

Since the topic of time is on my mind, I thought I'd leave you with this quote from Harvey Newcomb -

A very common fault lies in not estimating the value of a moment. This leads to the waste of immense portions of precious time. It is with time as with an estate. The old adage is, "Take care of the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves." So, if we take care of the moments, the hours will take care of themselves. Our whole life is made up of moments. A little calculation may startle those who carelessly trifle away small portions of time. Suppose you waste only ten minutes at a time, six times in a day; this will make an hour. This hour is subtracted from that portion of your time which might have been devoted to active employments. Sleep, refreshment, and personal duties, generally occupy at least one half of the twenty-four hours. You have, then, lost one-twelfth of the available portion of the day. Suppose you live to the age of seventy years. Take from this the first ten years of your life. From the sixty remaining years. you will have thrown away five years! These five years are taken from that portion of time which should have been employed in the cultivation of the mind, and in the practical duties of piety!

The common excuse for neglecting the improvement of the mind and the cultivation of personal piety, is the lack of time. Were you to employ one half of this time in reading, at the rate of twenty pages an hour, you would be able to read more than eighteen thousand pages, or sixty volumes, of three hundred pages each. If you employ the other half in devotional exercises, in addition to the time you would spend in this manner, upon the supposition that these five years are lost, what an influence will it have upon your personal piety! Or, if you spend the whole of it in the active duties of Christian benevolence, how much good may you accomplish! Think what you might do by employing five years in the undivided service of your Master.

Villette - Chapters 12-15

2009-12-30T23:06:00.002-06:00

Beginning with a sickness of one of Madame Beck's children, a Dr. John (as they call him) frequently visits the school. Lucy's suspicions begin to arise when the doctor continues to call even when nobody seems to be sick. Madame Beck pays more attention to her own appearance, and seems to light up when the doctor is in the room. Could there be something amiss?

Meanwhile, Lucy and Genevra hang out with each other quite often. Genevra, who has by now shown herself to be a hopeless flirt, repeatedly mentions a certain "Isidore" - an unfortunate young man who has developed an ardent affection for her. It's the typical infatuated/duped-guy-willing-to-jump-off-cliff-for-flighty-girl situation. I always find those to be among the top 5 most annoying situations in a book. JUST GET OVER HER, FOOL. Ah, I feel better now.

At the back of the garden behind the school is a tree-lined alley, which has become a favorite haunt of Lucy's. While sitting there one day, a box mysteriously drops from the window of a house nearby. Inside is a bouquet of flowers and a sappy love note. Out of the blue, Dr. John appears on the scene, intent on recovering the box and its contents. Suddenly they spot Madame Beck characteristically approaching, presumably to investigate the commotion. Dr. John disappears. Madame Beck acts suspiciously.

I found what happens next to be rather funny - Madame Beck (after searching Lucy's things again) leaves the house in an obvious fashion, and Dr. John comes for a visit. He and Lucy end up alone in a room and talk about the box, and he reveals that, although he didn't write the note, he knows who did and for whom it was intended. He's about to tell when the door suddenly makes a noise which is followed by a sneeze, and Madame Beck cooly walks through the room. The poor woman is found out in spite of her tricks.

The end of the school year comes and the school puts on a ball. During the festivities, the questions of what was going on with Madame Beck & the young Dr. John, and the identities of the two apparent lovers are resolved -

Madame Beck had a crush on Dr. John.
Dr. John turns out to be Isidore.
The box/love note were from a rival - an empty-headed pretty boy. Lucy tries to show him that Genevra isn't exactly a fine catch, but he tells her she's being too severe. I like how she sets him straight -

“I love Miss Fanshawe far more than De Hamal [the rival] loves any human being, and would care for and guard her better than he. Respecting De Hamal, I fear she is under an illusion. The man’s character is known to me, all his antecedents, all his scrapes. He is not worthy of your beautiful young friend.”

“My ‘beautiful young friend’ ought to know that, and to know or feel who is worthy of her,” said I. “If her beauty or her brains will not serve her so far, she merits the sharp lesson of experience.”

“Are you not a little severe?”

“I am excessively severe—more severe than I choose to show you. You should hear the strictures with which I favour my ‘beautiful young friend,’ only that you would be unutterably shocked at my want of tender considerateness for her delicate nature.”

“She is so lovely, one cannot but be loving towards her. You—every woman older than herself must feel for such a simple, innocent, girlish fairy a sort of motherly or elder-sisterly fondness. Graceful angel! Does not your heart yearn towards her when she pours into your ear her pure, childlike confidences? How you are privileged!” And he sighed.

“I cut short these confidences somewhat abruptly now and then,” said I. “But excuse me, Dr. John; may I change the theme for one instant? What a godlike person is that De Hamal! What a nose on his face—perfect! Model one in putty or clay, you could not make a better or straighter or neater; and then, such classic lips and chin; and his bearing—sublime.”

“De Hamal is an unutterable puppy, besides being a very white-livered hero.”

“You, Dr. John, and every man of a less refined mould than he, must feel for him a sort of admiring affection, such as Mars and the coarser deities may be supposed to have borne the young, graceful Apollo.”

“An unprincipled, gambling little jackanapes!” said Dr. John curtly, “whom, with one hand, I could lift up by the waistband any day, and lay low in the kennel if I liked.”

“The sweet seraph!” said I. “What a cruel idea! Are you not a little severe, Dr. John?”

HAHA.

Anyways, school ends and as Lucy has nowhere to go, she stays in Villette. The utter loneliness of the situation depresses her, and she develops a fever. She wanders around town and ends up in a confessional, spilling everything out to a priest, who asks her to see him the next day. I was so scared while reading that she'd do it, but to my relief, Lucy stands him up and does not become a papist. Ah.

I really like Lucy. She's sensible, philosophical, analytical, curious, and has a travel bug. She slightly reminds me of Jane Eyre. Interesting how Charlotte Bronte uses a similar type of heroine in her novels. I wonder if it's the same in Shirley and The Professor? I heard that Jane Eyre was slightly auto-biographical. I heard the same of Villette. And The Professor. Perhaps she wrote the books with herself in mind as the heroine, sort of getting to imagine what her life could have been like in different situations? That'd be an interesting thing to keep in mind as I keep reading.

Wow, this got long.

Villette - Chapters 3-11

2009-12-23T23:24:00.005-06:00

Last week I was busy and never got around to writing a Junto post, so I'm combining the two-weeks' worth of reading here.

So far, I love this book. The characters are absolutely fascinating, the plot is unpredictable, and there's a lot of food for thought.

Despite what I first believed, Paulina and Graham became good friends. After a while, Polly's father sent for her to go to the continent with him, and shortly afterwards Lucy Snowe returned to her own family. Eight years go by - Lucy and the Brettons fall out of contact, a family member dies, and Lucy finds herself left to make her way in the world. After a brief time taking care of a dying elderly lady, Lucy travels to London and decides to go to Europe. She boards a ship and meets a rather superficial young lady named Genevra Fanshaw, who happens to mention that she goes to a boarding school in a town called Villette.

Upon landing in France, Lucy and Genevra part ways and Lucy is undecided about what to do next. She spontaneously decides to go to Villette and see what the town has to offer. After arriving in the town, she was directed to an inn and upon reaching the destination realizes that she made a wrong turn - she had reached the aforementioned boarding school instead. Figuring this was too providential a circumstance to ignore, she calls on the head mistress - Madame Beck - and despite not speaking a word of French, she lands a job.

Madame Beck is a curious character. The personification of stoicism, tact, and reserve, she rarely lets on to what she's really thinking. She's easy to work for - her rules are moderate and never gets angry. But she has her flaws. She is obsessed with the approval of others. If her students dislike a teacher, the teacher's fired; she avoids confrontations by placing others in stressful situations in her stead. Also, her only motivation is self interest. Reason, emotion, coercion are nothing. If, however, you show her that a particular move would considerably benefit herself, you've won her over. Her method of governing her school is disturbingly unconventional but rather amusing - espionage. It sort of reminded me of The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe - she and her spies are everywhere. During Lucy's first night there, Madame Beck snuck into her room, went through her trunks, and duplicated her keys in an attempt to understand her character. This woman both creeps me out and cracks me up.

I found it funny in chapter 8 that Lucy commanded the respect of a classroom of rowdy girls by ripping one girl's English paper in two and locking another delinquent in a book closet. Ha. Just think about the "abuse" lawsuits that probably would have resulted nowadays.

I love how Lucy describes herself as living two lives - that of the outside world, and that of her mind. I never realized that other people saw their lives like that too.

This is a good book.

The Character of Rebekah...

2009-12-13T21:58:00.013-06:00

...is the title of one of the chapters in one of my favorite books, Female Piety. I thought I'd post some particularly good excerpts from the chapter - the graces demonstrated by Rebekah in Genesis are still lovely in the sight of God today. You can read the rest of the chapter here, if you're so inclined.

Observe the COURTEOUS affability of this interesting young woman [Rebekah]. Here was a stranger, a servant, though evidently a servant of a wealthy master; and yet how respectful, how gentle, how affable was her address. Josephus, fond of adding in his paraphrastic manner to the terseness and simplicity of the Scripture narrative, relates that there were other young women with Rebekah, who were asked for water, but refused; and that she reproved them for their churlishness. COURTESY is a befitting grace in both sexes, but most so in the female. While rudeness, which is a 'blemish' upon masculine character, is a 'blot' upon feminine character. A female churl is a monstrosity, from which we turn away with insufferable disgust. Courtesy is one of the cheapest exercises of virtue; it costs even less than rudeness—for the latter, except in hearts that are petrified into stone, must put the subject of it to some expense of feeling. Even a rough voice issuing from female lips is disagreeable, much more rough manners exhibited by a female form.

There are various things which prevent the exercise of courtesy. In some cases, it is to be traced to pride, a vice which befits a demon, but not a woman. In others it is the result of an absolute bad disposition—a morose, sour, and ill-conditioned mind, which knows no congenial seasons, and experiences no soft emotions. Some are petulant and peevish, and when putting on a mood of civility, are easily driven from it by the slightest touch of their irritability. Be courteous then; it is, if not of the solid substance of holiness, at least its polish. It is a Christian grace; for an apostle has said, "Be compassionate and courteous."

Akin to this was Rebekah's KINDNESS. There was not only an external affability of manner—but a real benevolence of disposition. Here was a stranger, tired and faint with a day's journey in a hot country, asking her kind offices to procure a supply of water for himself and his weary animals. To grant his request for himself, would have cost her no great labor; but it must have been a considerable effort to draw water enough for a number of thirsty camels! And this is more apparent when you know the construction of eastern wells, which are not like ours, but are a kind of sunken cistern, to which you descend by a flight of steps. How many tiresome descents must this young creature have made, before she satisfied the thirst of Eleazar's camels...
Insensibility in a man is bad enough, but worse in a woman. An unfeeling woman is a contradiction in terms, for the female heart has ever been found the dwelling-place of kindness, where the misery of others, when all other hopes have failed, is sure to find an asylum. In what age, or in what country in the world, has woman forfeited her character as the ministering angel of humanity? When and where has the female bosom disowned the claims of misery and repudiated the virtue of benevolence? Arctic snows have not frozen up the springs of mercy in the female heart, nor tropical suns dried them up. Tyranny has not crushed it out, nor barbarism extinguished it. Look at Mr. Park, when alone in the midst of Africa, and lying down to die in poverty and despair, found by the black women of that wild land, carried to their tent, fed, clad, and cherished amid the tender strains of the impromptu song, with which they cheered the feelings of his heart and expressed the benevolence of their own. Young women, cherish in your bosoms the purest philanthropy. Abhor selfishness—you are made for kindness. Oppose not the design of your Creator. Do no violence to your own nature. A stony heart does not behoove you. A tearless woman is a revolting scene in our sorrowful world. She may be pure and beautiful as the marble statue—but if withal she is as hard and cold, who can admire her?

MODESTY is the most attractive of all female graces. What is intelligence without it, but bolder impudence; or beauty but a more seductive snare? There is, I know, a reserve that degenerates into repulsive pride; as on the other hand, there is a frankness that corrupts into forwardness. Woman is intended neither to avoid man by a bashful timidity, nor to court him by an obtrusive advance. A genuine modesty guards against each extreme. It is that semi-transparent veil, which by revealing half her excellence, makes more lovely that which it reveals, and excites desire to know the rest. It is her shield as well as her veil, repelling all the darts with which, either by acts, by words, or by looks, any one would dare to assail her purity. It is also her ornament, investing all her other excellences with additional charms, the blush of purity upon the cheek of beauty. It is her power, by which she subdues every heart that is worth the conquest. Yes, what is not modesty to woman? Lay not aside your veil. Cast not away your shield. Divest not yourselves of your brightest ornament. Enfeeble not your power to influence others. Avoid everything in which the absence of this virtue can show itself.

Villette - Chapters 1 & 2

2009-12-07T23:12:00.006-06:00

In every book I read, it's the characters that usually make or break the story for me. I'm fascinated by simply studying people - how they think, express themselves, behave, interact, etc., etc. When I read a story in which the author has done a great job of developing the characters, it makes the book come alive for me. While I didn't particularly enjoy the plot of Jane Eyre, it was the personalities and relationship of Jane and Mr. Rochester that made me really like reading it. So I have high hopes for the characters in Villette. So far, there's:

Lucy Snowe, the heroine. As she's the narrator(-ess?), I haven't really gotten to see what she's like quite yet. At this point the setting and background info is still being presented. But I want to like her. :-)
Paulina Home. I'm sorry, but this kid bugs me. I'm guessing she's 4 or 5-ish, but she acts very much like an adult. It's hyper-maturity that is border-line insolence. She acts very affectedly and puts on airs with people older than her. It's incredibly annoying. Ugh.
Mrs. Bretton, Lucy's godmother. Lucy has come to live with her for a while.
Graham Bretton, Mrs. Bretton's 16 year old son. As the narator puts it, he's "a spoiled, whimsical child;" he immediately picks up on Paulina's weirdness, and begins a series of attempts at mortifying her. Normally his type of character would slightly disgust me, but as he's annoying someone I find annoying, I like him. Muahahaha.

I leave off with this passage that I found highly amusing/gratifying:

She [Paulina] wished Mrs. Bretton and myself good-night; she seemed hesitating whether Graham’s deserts entitled him to the same attention, when he caught her up with one hand, and with that one hand held her poised aloft above his head. She saw herself thus lifted up on high in the glass over the fireplace. The suddenness, the freedom, the disrespect of the action were too much.
‘For shame, Mr. Graham!” was her indignant cry; “put me down!” And when again on her feet—“I wonder what you I would think of me if I were to treat you in that way, lifting you with my hand” (raising that mighty member), “as Warren lifts the little cat.”

So saying, she departed.

Villette

2009-11-30T19:26:00.001-06:00

Maddie & I have decided to get back on track with the Junto. We're going to turn over a new leaf (pun not intended...maybe) and begin reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte. Maddie assures me that it isn't all sappiness like some of the other Bronte books I've read....

*coughWutheringHeightscough*

Yeah, yeah, I'm the biggest slacker on earth with the Junto, which is rendered more heinous when you consider the fact that I'm the co-reviver of this endeavor. Oh well. This time, however, I promise, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye that I'll keep up with this one. (By the way, who's the weirdo that came up with that phrase?) Maybe I'll still write about Common Sense from time to time. We'll see.

Many people claim that Bronte based this book off her own experience as a governess in Belgium. But they also say the same of her other book, The Professor. I guess I'll have to read both and find out for myself. :-)

Villette was published in 1853. Here's some events of the year that I found interesting:

March 5th - Howard Pyle, who wrote famous versions of Robin Hood and King Arthur, was born
March 30th - Vincent van Gogh was born
Millard Filmore & James Pierce were Presidents
Charles Dickens published Bleak House

I know, I know, this is probably the lamest introduction post for a book....ever.....but as this is a novel, I didn't want to do too much studying before I read the book in case it'd spoil the plot for me. Don't you hate it when that happens?

We're going to try and do a Junto post every Monday, so (hopefully...ha) I'll write more next week!

On God, life, and books

2009-11-19T15:12:00.006-06:00

Two things that hit me lately:

1. When we say that we're here to glorify God, do we really understand what we're saying? Every thing we say, do, and think should be for HIM! Every time we start something new, it should be to serve Him. We have to be actively watching ourselves. We have to be living each moment as Colossians 3:17 says: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Boy am I bad at that!

2. Worldliness doesn't always come in the same packaging. I think when most people hear it, we imagine an obsession with pop culture, a slavish following of the latest fashions, a desire to be "cool," materialism, etc, etc. But that's only one type. Any undo affection for things that aren't of God is worldliness. I'm a total culprit. I have an Athenian tendency - I'm a lover of ideas. I've found myself wanting to study the Bible, not necessarily to understand God better, but to learn something new. I get in trouble with my parents because I'll extend my schoolwork as long as I can each day. (Bring on the nerd jokes) I oftentimes find myself valuing things based on how much I learned from them. Although Proverbs says we should pursue knowledge, devotion to it at the expense of primarily seeking God is a disgusting form of worldliness. Solomon tried it, and ultimately it let him down.

But how good is Christ, that He would take responsibility for all that guilt of mine so that I can live with Him for eternity! Just think about that. Why on earth would God do that for anyone? There's simply no adjective that can be used to describe Him.

On another note....I just came across this book: A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen. Alright. At first, I was rather interested, but then I started thinking about the title. Not only does it have arguably the #1 literary cliche of all time as its main part, the subtitle had me almost laughing. The way I see it, the book's written by 33 people who have been made to feel slightly guilty & insecure about reading 200-year old chick lit, trying to show the world that they have intelligent reasons for doing so. And notice the qualifier "great." I guess the book would be irrelevant if the subtitle was: 33 Unknowns on Why We Read Jane Austen. But I guess the topic of the book isn't too bad since I'm a quasi-Janeite myself - I'll always be a die-hard fan of Elinor Dashwood & Edward Ferrars......and J.A. is pretty intellectual. :-)

Speaking of books, this one looks really cool. Who'd have thought that Isaac Watts wasn't just a hymn writer?

Plato's wish fulfilled in Christ

2009-11-08T15:31:00.001-06:00

J.R. Miller:

Plato expressed a desire that the moral law might become a living personage, that men seeing it thus incarnate, might be charmed by its beauty. Plato's wish was fulfilled in Jesus Christ! The holiness and the beauty of the divine law were revealed in Him. The Beatitudes contain an outline of the ideal life--but the Beatitudes are only a transcript of the life of Christ Himself! What He taught about love--was but His own love stated in a course of living lessons for His friends to learn. When He said that we should be patient, gentle, thoughtful, forgiving, and kind--He was only saying, "Follow Me!"

If we could gather from the most godly people who ever have lived, the little fragments of lovely character which have blossomed out in each, and bring all these fragments into one personality--we would have the beauty of Jesus Christ! In one person you find gentleness, in another meekness, in another purity of heart, in another humility, in another kindness, in another patience. But in the holiest of men, there are only two or three qualities of ideal beauty--along with much that is stained and blemished, mingled with these qualities. In Christ, however, all that is excellent is found, with no flaw!

"You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved; there is no flaw in You!" Song of Songs 4:7