dual personalities

Month: March, 2014

March 5, 2014

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.*

by chuckofish

Tulips from the grocery store brighten my day.

“All the absurd little meetings, decisions, inner skirmishes that go to make up our days. It all adds up to very little, and yet it all adds up to very much. Our days are full of nonsense, and yet not, because it is precisely into the nonsense of our days that God speaks to us words of great significance – not words that are written in the stars but words that are written into the raw stuff and nonsense of our days, which are not nonsense just because God speaks into the midst of them. And the words that he says, to each of us differently, are “Be brave…be merciful…feed my lambs…press on toward the goal.”

-Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark

Lent begins today on Ash Wednesday. There is a traditional Ash Wednesday service going on somewhere near you. At our church, we have two services today, but neither time works for me. So I think I’ll go to a Noon service near work. If I do, then I will wipe my forehead off. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s pretentious Ash Wednesday worshippers.

Bonus points for the Veep. No brownie points for the Veep.

When my children were younger and lived at home, I tried to make them aware of Lent. We watched our Lenten movies and discussed them. These efforts were a hit.

Once I put a lot of bible verses in a bowl on the dining room table. Each night one of the kids would pick one and read it. We would attempt to discuss it during dinner. My family was less comfortable with these efforts on my part. They seemed hokey I guess. I’m glad I tried. Perhaps something sunk in.

Once again I will endeavor to keep a “holy Lent”–not by denying myself things like chocolate or wine but by being more intentional about keeping the Great Commandment. You know, the one about loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

Good luck to me, right?

*Psalm 51, verse ll

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March 4, 2014

Grace to you and peace

by chuckofish

murray

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.”

― Andrew Murray
(1828 – 1917) Murray was a South African writer, teacher, and Dutch Reformed minister.

Are you thinking about giving up something for Lent? Or taking something on? Are you eating pancakes tonight?

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March 3, 2014

March comes in like a rockety ride

by chuckofish

A new month has commenced! March, the weather forecasters predicted, would come in like a lion.

From "Katy and the Big Snow" by Virginia Lee Burton

From “Katy and the Big Snow” by Virginia Lee Burton

They sure had everyone in a tizzy of expectation. Church was even called off yesterday! (The rector is in the holy land–is this what happens when the cat’s away?) In fact, most churches in the area canceled all services because of the expected 10″ of snow/sleet. Unheard of in the “olden” days! Can’t say that I wasn’t pleased to be able to stay in bed and read Olivier and Parrot by Peter Carey.

books

I also finished The Sweet-Shop Owner by Graham Swift, which was well-written and held my interest, but I can’t say I recommend it unless you are in the mood for a depressing story about post-WWII England.

But back to the weather and our snow-pocalypse that didn’t happen.

In fact, not much happened.

hoiuse4

But Spring will be here before we know it! You know this is true.

Here’s evidence:

mikemathenymeme

P.S. I did not watch the Oscars. I watched Serenity (2005) which was nominated for no Academy Awards (although 8 years later Chiwetel Ejiofor was nominated for Best Actor in 12 Years a Slave). However, it is a favorite of mine. I am a leaf on the wind…

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March 1, 2014

The Good Wife?

by chuckofish

It’s time for another installment of family history. This one involves a collateral mystery/love story. You will recall that in 1918 our great uncle Guy Chamberlin transferred from the Cavalry to the exciting, new Tank Corp

much cooler than cavalry

much cooler than cavalry

and was promptly killed in the Argonne Forest just a month and a half before the Armistice.  I blogged about it here.

It was, of course, a terrible blow to the family, made more so by the fact that he was the youngest, and that unbeknownst to them he had gotten married  just weeks before he died.  According to family tradition, the young widow showed up in Vermont to meet her ‘new family’ and was promptly dismissed as a tacky, gold-digger, who had had the audacity to claim the poor boy’s pension. That seems straightforward enough, but is it true?

While looking into family history I went off on a tangent and found out more about his wife, Dorothy. She was originally from the Washington DC area and she went back there after the war. A couple of things stand out about post-war Dorothy that may not fit the gold-digger image. She was obviously proud of her marital status. In the 1920 census the twenty year old Dorothy  resolutely names herself Mrs. Guy R. Chamberlin. At the time, she was living in Rockville, MD with her sister and brother-in-law. The household included a servant, so it can’t have been too mean. What really stands out about Dorothy, however, are three additional facts. She served her country again briefly during WWII.

She never remarried, but instead bought a small farm in Maryland.

Found on Ebay (!). I've now bought this so it's okay to post.

Found on Ebay (!). I’ve now bought this so it’s okay to post. She’s identified on the back.

She was legit — hey, she and her cows made it into the Baltimore Sun. I think she looks nice — though she’s certainly no beauty (to be fair she is probably in her 40s in these pics).

Finally — and I think most telling — she is buried next to Guy in Arlington.

Dorothy D. tombstone    Guy R. tombstone

Is this a great love story? Probably not. All of the positives I just mentioned could also be interpreted in a negative way. Dorothy clearly understood the fact that Guy’s death allowed her to live independently and have the life of her own choosing. She must have known that to his family it looked as if she had gone to France to find a husband. After all, that was not uncommon. Perhaps it was guilt rather than love that made her stay true to him all those years. We’ll never know, but I prefer to give her the benefit of the doubt. She doesn’t LOOK like a gold-digger — she looks like the type of fun, down to earth girl that Guy might have liked. What do you think?

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