At 8am, as I walked back into my bedroom so I could dress, I thought: I have two hours to get something written in. Maybe my small-group position paper. At 8:30am, as I fished two symphony tickets out of an envelope, fixed a cup of coffee, and wiped the kitchen counters down (!), I thought: […]
For Fred, and for Mister Rogers, this was the work of God: seeing the eternal in your neighbor, that divine presence that allows us to show mercy to our neighbor—and to receive it. […] Dr. Orr taught [Fred Rogers] that on one side of the spectrum stood the evil one, the accuser. In explaining what […]
I’ve begun hand-copying books of the Bible, three verses at a time. It’s an idiosyncratic version of something the three Peoples of the Book do—to gain intimacy with the word of God (and therefore Godself) by moving one’s arm and hand slowly through it. I’ve chosen to copy Jeremiah, because I’m working on a Jeremiah […]
Met a seminary friend for coffee and writing—and then lunch—this morning. Seeing each other was a delight; sharing our summer lives felt breezy; swapping fall-term plans felt grounding… without that too-brittle future-grasping that foretells God’s raised eyebrow and flick of a finger. Kindred spirits in dunnamany ways, she’s a year ahead of me in school […]
As I fell back asleep/awoke this morning, I caught the edges of an NPR radio article about Zimbabwe. In my sleepiness, I connected most with wistfulness: in high school, when their democracy was new, I researched them and caught the hope for something stable, a place with a larger blessing for those who live there. […]
When in my twenties I fell in love with poetry, took out some big loans, packed up my small red Mazda hatchback with everything I owned and drove from Denver to New York to start graduate school, it never occurred to me that I was searching for a new way to read the Bible. I […]
Present time for A & K:
This afternoon I listened to the ‘Revisionist History’ podcast episode titled Burden of Proof. It’s Malcom Gladwell’s show, so it’s intriguing, packed, and persuasive in ways one should be careful about. (That’s my Gladwell-bias, at any rate. I love his stuff, but I have to be verrry careful that I keep thinking for myself and […]
If I had long, uninterrupted days, I wouldn’t know what to do. I would get nothing done. —J, mother of 2 littles, over enchiladas Christmas-style In one conversational gambit at the Glen Workshop, a colleague quipped, “You’re from Austin, TX? What’s the name of your band?” I laughed; the third person looked confused until I […]
You have no idea how much time I now spend within my own blog trying not to repeat myself. It would be easier if I ordered myself differently, or if I was less paranoid about having only five thoughts (thanks, Scott Cairns!), because then I could quickly retrieve what I was pretty sure I’d already […]
