This afternoon, I listened to a gorgeous rendition of “Danny Boy.” It was eerie, and I was on the edge of tears—not from the singer’s artistry, though she’s excellent, but because of a tiny coincidence that I think only one or two other people know: Today’s my Gandaddy’s birthday. Carl Roland West was born on […]
Today I’ve lacked energy and either read or slept. That’s a generally reliable indicator!
I have spent my day thus far collecting…we won’t call them “reasons,” we’ll call them “descriptors”…for why I haven’t Made This Post, or Put Words in the SFD, or even Webmistressed Usefully For Those Patient People (-30 days and counting). And then my sister COMPLETELY SAVED MY BACON with this article from the Washington Post: The […]
from Isaiah 43:7: “…bring my [children] everyone who is called by my NAME, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” This snagged me on a hook out of Unlocking the Heart of the Artist; see, I’ve started asking God what God wants me, as an artist, to be doing. “To glorify God and enjoy […]
The air breathing out of the undeveloped block next to ours is pleasant and cool. My Sweetie decided to walk after dinner, and I went with him for All the Good Reasons. It’s lovely to have eliminated the stay-home reasons! Almost an hour of golden light and soft air…the perfect time of the year. All […]
I opened my study-book (Covenant: Trusting the Covenant, lesson 21), and was startled to find myself there— Covenant Prayer: For poets, artists, writers, and dancers who bear the beauty of God’s hope to others “Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. […]
In moments of time-wasting on the interwebs I take reading speed tests. My results depend on how each test’s structured, but 800 words per minute isn’t unusual. (I think the 1300 wpm one could be an outlier!) And life experience confirms that I read faster than most. It’s not enough. I have 4 books I’m […]
I’ve told three people; it’s official; I’m avoiding my assignment for my summer class. Not by any clear method of procrastination. That would have had the mercy of being straightforward, and I could have straightforwardly sat myself down and told myself, “Enough already.” My conclusion’s based on accumulation–I’ve accumulated enough postponements to squint at the […]
Two years ago, at this same season, I was working on my faith-art-life puzzle from a thoroughly different angle: March 2014 How do we make a place, a collective space, to spur those of us who are interested to make ever-greater art to the glory of God? I don’t have a clue. Likely because this may […]
[…]the transformative power of the religious imagination, the ability to search out the operation of God’s grace in the complex tangle of our lives. –Gregory Wolfe, from “Base Imitation,” as collected in Intruding Upon the Timeless (p49), emphasis mine I’ve been nibbling Wolfe’s essays for a handful of weeks now. Like the work he and […]
