I am reading Matthew again in my daily Bible reading. I have just read through the beatitudes and the similitudes and a lot of talk about the law. Following after that, chapter six is all about how to do things right and not like the hypocrites and reminders that “your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Humility is the watchword of the day. We can never read about that too much, can we?
I am also reading several other books…
…and I actually finished one: The Pale Horse written by Agatha Christie and published in 1961. I have never been much of a Christie fan, but I ran across a mention of this book and I thought, I’ll give it a whirl.
The plot involves a dying woman, Mrs Davis, who gives her last confession to Father Gorman, a Roman Catholic priest, but along with her confession she gives him a list of names and a terrible secret. Before he can take action, however, he is struck dead in the fog. As the police begin to investigate, the main character begins to piece together evidence which points to a dark, occult group. I was pleasantly surprised by the book–it is well written, moves right along and is peopled with likable characters who are well developed and realistic. I enjoyed it so perhaps I will attempt to read another Christie mystery.
I am also reading Tim Keller on the Christian Life by Matt Smethurst for my Community Group. We are going through it chapter by chapter, starting tomorrow. You may recall that Tim Keller has been very influential to me on my spiritual walk. I credit him, along with R.C. Sproul and John Piper, with explaining the gospel to me, with showing me that the Bible is the foundation of the Christian life and with urging me to find a new church.
Boy, am I grateful for his guidance.
Today we also remember Henry Mancini who was born on this day in 1924. Let’s all have a cocktail and toast him tonight.
…and contemplate the lush green grass–which won’t last, I know–
…but it sure is beautiful now! Even on an overcast and cloudy day.
I have a lot on my “to do” list this week what with getting the Review to the printer and the house ready for visitors this weekend. We are going over to the boy and daughter #3’s house for Easter, so at least I don’t have to prepare a big meal. Lottie has told me several times that it is a very special Big Deal that we are coming over for Easter. I am most appreciative. We are also going over to daughter #1’s house for my birthday/daughter #2’s birthday celebration. What a blessing to have my sweet family close at hand!
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! 2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.
5 The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! 6 May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!
–Psalm 128
I didn’t get a chance to watch any of the Masters this year, but I was happy that Rory McIlroy finally won. He has had a difficult few years and I’m glad he pulled it together! Golf is such a difficult mind-game. I got a big kick out of 4-year old Katie’s reaction to his win:
AP photo
Here are 40 random pieces of advice from Tim Challies which I like a lot. Such as: “Sing loud in church, especially if you are a man. Don’t be content with mumbling as if it’s somehow embarrassing to have a male voice.” I totally agree!
I hope you are feeling the joy, joy, joy, joy down in your heart like this little angel and that you had a good weekend!
Daughter #1 and I had a super fun roadtrip down to southwest Missouri where we were adventurous and checked out the Top of the Rock on our way to Branson. She even drove us in a golf cart around the Ozarks Heritage Preserve…
…through a cave…
…and over bridges…
…and waterfalls…
It was really very cool! We saw a lot of natural “table rock” formations…
The museum there is also very well done–lots of collections of arrow heads and ax heads and Indian clothes and baskets and pottery, dinosaur bones (Terror Birds! Hell Pigs!) and Ozark history.
It was all very well done–beautifully displayed and curated–I was impressed.
My daughter says I look like Sasquatch
After that we checked into our hotel–the Chateau on the Lake resort in Branson where our DAR State Conference was being held.
The view from our balcony
I didn’t take many pictures at the actual conference. Just imagine over 400 older ladies wearing patriotic scarves and jewelry and sashes.
DAR celebs
When daughter #1 and I were having a glass of wine in the hotel bar Thursday night a man came up to where we were sitting and asked us, “What is going on here? I’m the only dude in the whole bar!” We explained the situation and he headed out.
We played hooky on Friday morning and drove down the strip in Branson where we saw the Titanic!
…and King Kong! And John Wayne! And Elvis!
It is really quite the place. The twins would be in absolute heaven!
We came home on Saturday afternoon. As you can see, the weather was glorious the whole time–just perfect for exploring our beautiful state.
I was gone two nights and three days and, thank the Lord, the OM did not burn the house down. (He did the taxes in peace and quiet.) We made it to church Sunday morning and got to hear the Children’s Choir (including the twins) enthusiastically sing “To the King, Sing Hosanna”. We had three baptisms! It was lovely to be back.
Now I have a very busy week ahead. And it is darling daughter #2’s birthday today!
We can’t wait to see her this weekend and celebrate her birthday with the whole fam! And Easter!
Today daughter #1 and I are driving down to Branson, MO to attend the Missouri State DAR Conference. As you can see, it is a fer piece to the Ozark Plateau.
I am going along to keep daughter #1 company, but I guess I am an actual delegate, so I will have to pay attention part of the time.
Anyway, I am keeping an open mind and looking forward to getting the hell out of Dodge out of town.
It is not supposed to rain the whole time so hopefully we will be able to get out and enjoy the beautiful Missouri scenery! In a golf cart!
Daughter #2 is back today! I am happy to report that my daily reading habits have persisted, and while there are always misses among the hits, I have several good things to share.
Quick notes: I failed to finish Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853) — there is a reason Jane Eyre (1847) is the better known work — but while I trudged through the first half, I also read and thoroughly enjoyed two Fred Vargas mysteries. My mother had mailed them to me, which I appreciated, since I do not think my local prairie library carries French mysteries in translation. My mother has blogged about Vargas many times, but I’ll link to this post, which — bonus — mostly discusses her reading of The House of the Seven Gables (1851), a novel I love dearly and re-read at the beginning of the year.
My local prairie library does carry two shelves of “General Fiction,” which feature a funny mix of contemporary “chick lit” and classic canonical works. Something compelled me to grab John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939), and I found it surprisingly easy to read. It is one of those epic long novels that, because the chapters are so short, allows you to leisurely chug along with great and frequent reward. Steinbeck alternates between naturalist descriptions of the American landscape, mini treatises on the American economy, and what I found to be the gripping plot of the Joad family’s Dust Bowl journey from Oklahoma to California. I was very happy to read in context the passage quoted in one of my favorite blog posts.
When Katie assembled this Duplo truck with trailer and a multitude of passengers, I couldn’t help but think, “It’s giving me Joad family jalopy vibes.”
Finally, I recently finished Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2006). The novel’s dual protagonists are wise in different ways: Paloma beyond her 12 years, and Renée beyond her station (which she believes precludes the intellectual life she keeps a secret). When a Japanese man moves into the apartment building where they both live, the three forge an unlikely friendship. Interestingly, Kakura Ozu is able to intuit the rich inner lives of Paloma and Renée, and draws them out of their shells despite the social structures in which they find themselves stuck. While it was all a little far-fetched, I did appreciate the idea that we can recognize a kindred intellectual spirit when we encounter it, even briefly.
My favorite section of the novel, “On Grammar,” centered on the trio’s shared appreciation of language and disdain for those who misuse it. When Renée and Ozu meet, they both flinch when another — supposedly refined — tenant makes a glaring grammatical error. Their friendship is forged in this moment. And at one point, Paloma snaps when her literature teacher makes an asinine comment about grammar. Later, Paloma reflects in her journal,
“Personally, I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty. When you speak, or read, or write, you can tell if you’ve said or read or written a fine sentence. You can recognize a well-turned phrase or an elegant style. But when you are applying the rules of grammar skillfully, you ascend to another level of the beauty of language. When you use grammar you peel back the layers, to see how it is all put together, see it quite naked, in a way. And that’s where it becomes wonderful, because you say to yourself, ‘Look how well-made this is, how well-constructed it is! How solid and ingenious, rich and subtle!’ I get completely carried away just knowing there are words of all different natures, and that you have to know them in order to be able to infer their potential usage and compatibility. I find there is nothing more beautiful, for example, than the very basic components of language, nouns and verbs. When you’ve grasped this, you’ve grasped the core of any statement. It’s magnificent, don’t you think? Nouns, verbs…
“Perhaps, to gain access to all the beauty of the language that grammar unveils, you have to place yourself in a special state of awareness. I have the impression that I do that anyway without any special effort. I think that it was at the age of two, when I first heard grown-ups speak, that I understood once and for all how language is made. Grammar lessons have always seemed to me a sort of synthesis after the fact and, perhaps, a source of supplemental details concerning terminology.”
Paloma is a little overdone as a precocious tween, but I can’t help but relate to much of this. It’s very obvious to me that toddlers intuit grammar from the language around them, and yes, as their mother, I believe that Ida and Katie have an “elegant style” of speech. Ida once looked at the rainy back deck and said, “I wish we could go outside today.” (For reference, at her age, “go outside” would be typical.) Solid and ingenious, rich and subtle indeed!
Up next, I am testing my endurance with Wolf Hall. So far, so good!
Well, the sun–thankfully–came out yesterday, but it was still quite cold. I had a lot of desk work to do, so I stayed inside mostly, only venturing out to mail a card. (Am I becoming my father?)
Today we celebrate the birthdays of two good writers–Elizabeth Bacon Custer in 1842 and Glendon Swarthout in 1918. Libby Custer was the wife of George Armstrong Custer. Left nearly destitute in the aftermath of her husband’s death, she became an outspoken advocate for his legacy through her popular books and lectures. She is largely responsible for his posthumous fame.
She never remarried and died in 1933, four days short of her 91st birthday.
“As the sun broke through the mist a mirage appeared, which took up about half of the line of cavalry, and thenceforth for a little distance it marched, equally plain to the sight on the earth and in the sky. The future of the heroic band, whose days were even then numbered, seemed to be revealed, and already there seemed a premonition in the supernatural translation as their forms were reflected from the opaque mist of the early dawn.”
–Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer
Like Libby Custer, Glendon Swarthout was born and raised in Michigan. After serving in WWII, he went back to school, earning his PhD in Victorian literature, all the while teaching in college and writing short stories. He was paid $2500 in 1955 for one of these stories, “A Horse for Mrs. Custer”, which was made into a movie starring Randolph Scott, 7th Calvary (1956). The day after he finished his last doctoral examination, he started writing a novel called They Came To Cordura about Gen. Pershing’s 1916 expedition to capture Pancho Villa. The book was quickly sold to Random House and then to Columbia Pictures in 1958, becoming a major motion picture starring Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth.
Gary Cooper and Swarthout during filming
He wrote more best-selling novels, some of which were also made into good movies. As usual, though, the books are better than the movies.
So we’ll toast Libby Custer and Glendon Swarthout tonight and maybe we’ll watch They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with Olivia De Havilland as Mrs. Custer or They Came to Cordura (1956) or The Shootist (1976) starring John Wayne.
And it might be time to dust off Bless the Beasts and the Children and read it!
I will also note that recently our local rag (the Webster-Kirkwood Times) ran a story about the increase in recent coyote sightings in our neck of the woods. You will recall that I saw a coyote in my yard a few weeks ago and noted it. The experts attribute this to the huge cicada emergence last spring, which resulted in plentiful food resources and high survival rates for coyotes and other species. Well, my goodness, you don’t say? What I really want to know is who are the busybodies who report such things and to whom do they report them? I mean, if I saw a bear, I might call the police, but a coyote? That must be Karen, I guess.
Rain, rain, go away! 🌧️🌧️🌧️ Well, it did finally stop on Sunday but then it was freezing cold! Not exactly perfect weather for watching lacrosse, but I braved the overcast skies and windy 40-degree temps to do so. The other grandparents were visiting from Florida and had to stop at Kohl’s on the way to the game to buy winter coats! The bud was great in goal! He played half the game there…
…and half in midfield…
…and part of the time, hanging with his lacrosse bros…
This was all, of course, after going to Sunday School and sitting through church and a sermon on Hebrews 12:18-29! Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God isa consuming fire! The twins do so well now in church, sitting quietly and with a minimum of wiggling and squirming. I guess they want that thumbs up/A+ from Mamu, right?
Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me!
–Charles Wesley
(One of these days I’ll make it to one of Lottie’s game, but she was rained out this weekend.)
Besides that excitement, I had a quiet weekend, mostly because of the weather. I went to our DAR meeting and I was the stand-in Chaplain so I had to open with a prayer before brunch. I gave them this:
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The old BCP (1979) is such a lifesaver. I always have to tell people, no, I didn’t come up with that myself–it’s from the BCP!
Well, it is April and things are really picking up steam.
DAR this weekend, DAR next weekend, then Easter and then more DAR the last weekend of the month. Sigh. Then it is off to Florida for some sunshine and then DAR again!! My mother and I are headed to the Missouri State Conference for DAR in Branson next weekend. We are figuring out what to do with our free time in between what is sure to be fun-filled DAR activities. Just kidding. We are figuring out what do with our free time in between DAR luncheons and dinners followed by wine time.
We will probably check out Top of the Rock which has nature trails and cave tours that require golf cart rides. YES, PLEASE. We’ll report back after our trip next weekend. This weekend, everyone can pray for me as I have to pull together yet another DAR chapter meeting. After Saturday, I only have one more until summer break! Hallelujah!
And here’s a pic of Mr. Smith looking very dirty. He felt the need to roll around in the wet mulch, no doubt to assert his dominance over a bunny he terrorized by sprinting out the door and leaping off the deck and chasing until the bunny ran under the fence.
Don’t worry, he’s going to the spa tomorrow for his weekly bath. And here he is trying to pick which book to read.
In my daily Bible reading, I am in the epistle of James. It is pretty great, so I thought I would just share chapter 4 with you. It seems very timely.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
James, you recall, was the half-brother of Jesus. He became a leader in the Jerusalem church. I’m sorry to say I was not acquainted with James until I was well into middle age. But better late than never. Mark 3:21 tells us that Jesus’ brothers (James, Joses, Jude, and Simon) thought he was out of his mind. John 7:3-5 tells us that Jesus’ brothers mocked him and didn’t believe in him. This rings true to anyone who grew up with siblings. But all that changed for James after he witnessed the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 15:7). James was martyred for his beliefs around 62 A.D. Eusebius says he was beaten to death with a club after being thrown from the temple parapet; Hegesippus also records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple.
Martyrdom of James the Just from a manuscript dating from late 10th or early 11th century.
Today I have my last womens’ bible study gathering of the term (Exodus) and also my last community group study of 1 Corinthians! Onward and upward! As Charles Spurgeon said, “Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.”
I am currently working on an article for the Kirkwood Historical Review about A.G. Edwards, an early “pioneer” of our adopted hometown. They weren’t fighting off Indians or anything, but those mid-19th century guys led very interesting lives nonetheless.
Edwards was a graduate of West Point (class of 1832) and was 45th in a class of 45–the goat. I should note here that the term “Goat” holds a special place in U.S. Army tradition. The term refers to the cadet graduating from West Point with the lowest Grade Point Average (GPA) or “the man who would have stood first if he had boned (i.e. studied)”. Rather than being a badge of shame, it recognizes the tenacity or foolhardiness it takes to be the last graduate of the best of the best. “It is definitely an honor; it is in no way a joke,” according to
James Robbins, author of “Last in their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point.” At West Point, where plenty of cadets “wash out” years before graduation, there’s a genuine respect for the cadet who faltered, but graduated. And, truly, General A.G. Edwards went on to great things.
In other news, this appeared on my Instagram feed on April Fool’s Day:
Well, to infinity and beyond!
Also, I really like John Piper’s answer to Jordan Peterson’s take on happiness–it is wonderful. “Jordan Peterson is negative about happiness as the aim of life because he defines happiness as fleeting, unpredictable, impulsive, and superficial rather than as deep, lasting, soul-satisfying, rooted in God, and expanding in love. He’s probably right that for most people, happiness is experienced as fleeting, superficial, unpredictable, and impulsive rather than as deep and lasting and soul-satisfying and rooted in God.” Read the whole thing.
And here’s a poem: Always Marry an April Girl by Ogden Nash
Praise the spells and bless the charms,
I found April in my arms.
April golden, April cloudy,
Gracious, cruel, tender, rowdy;
April soft in flowered languor,
April cold with sudden anger,
Ever changing, ever true --
I love April, I love you.
dual personalities 