It’s finally Friday and the sun is out, hopefully to stay through the weekend. Do you have something planned with your mother/grandmother/daughter/sister/aunt/family friend to celebrate Mother’s Day on Sunday?
If so, that’s very nice, but you could also just sit quietly and look out the window and think about all those ladies who have meant so much to you over the years and about those ladies who meant so much to them.
My mother with her mother c. 1927…
…and my father with his mother c. 1923…
Here’s my brother with our Aunt Donna c. 1951.
…and my sister with her niece (daughter #1)…
And then there are the mommies in training:
Or you could read a poem, such as “Piano” by D. H. Lawrence:
Last night as I awakened as usual at 4:15 a.m. (why?), I reached over to my bedside table and picked up The Mortification of Sin by the Puritan John Owen. (I am not ashamed to say the edition I have is abridged and “made easy to read” by Richard Rushing.) You may laugh and say, well, that must have put you back to sleep à toute vitesse, but actually I read for about an hour.
As you know, John Owen (1616 – 1683) was an English Noncorformist church leader, theologian, and academic administrator at the University of Oxford. He was also an aide and chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. The Mortification of Sin grew out of a series of sermons he preached while serving as Dean of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford.
Let, then, thy soul by faith be exercised with such thoughts and apprehensions as these: “I am a poor, weak creature; unstable as water, I cannot excel. This corruption is too hard for me, and is at the very door of ruining my soul; and what to do I know not. My soul is become as parched ground, and an habitation of dragons. I have made promises and broken them; vows and engagements have been as a thing of nought. Many persuasions have I had that I had got the victory and should be delivered, but I am deceived; so that I plainly see, that without some eminent succour and assistance, I am lost, and shall be prevailed on to an utter relinquishment of God. But yet, though this be my state and condition, let the hands that hang down be lifted up, and the feeble knees be strengthened. Behold, the Lord Christ, that hath all fulness of grace in his heart, all fulness of power in his hand, he is able to slay all these his enemies. There is sufficient provision in him for my relief and assistance. He can take my drooping, dying soul and make me more than a conqueror.
Heady stuff, I know, but far superior to scrolling on your phone in the middle of the night. Sinclair Ferguson says, yes, read John Owen on the mortification of sin, but turn to your Scriptures first, and that is good advice. I am currently reading the Psalms in my reading-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. The Psalms never disappoint–especially in the dark recesses of the night.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
–Psalm 34:4
And here’s good news:Epic, Tim Challies’ video series about his round-the-world three-year journey, spanning multiple continents and some of the most unusual places in the world, is available and free to watch on YouTube. In it he searches for thirty-three carefully selected objects that help us understand the long and complicated history of Christianity. I watched the first episode where he travels to Jerusalem and Rome and the second where he goes to England. In that one he visits the cemetery where John Bunyan and John Owen are buried. I really enjoyed both episodes. I hope you do too.
Oh, and the cicadas have arrived. I had to sweep a lot of shells off the front porch!
Have a good day! If the weather allows, get outside and chuck a ball around.
The tornado sirens went off at 4:00 a.m. and then I couldn’t get back to sleep. It rained and thundered, but there were no tornadoes (thankfully) in our neck of the woods. A popular local pub in Sullivan, “known for its karaoke and friendly bartenders,” was demolished by a random twister, but that was all. Spring weather–always turbulent! And you can be sure there’s more on the way.
In other news, today marks the 147th anniversary of the Westminster Dog Show. The first Westminster show took place on May 8, 1877, making it second only to the Kentucky Derby, in terms of continuously held sporting events in the United States. (Both events were held despite the Great Depression, the two World Wars, and pandemic years.) It has been on TV each year since 1948. This year the Westminster Dog Show will run from May 11 to May 14. In case you were wondering, a Westie hasn’t won Best in Show since 1962, although terriers in general have been very successful. But is this a Westie?
Yikes. This is a Westie:
He has ears.
A new statue of Queen Elizabeth II was unveiled in Rutland, England on what would have been her 98th birthday.
I’m not sure how I feel about it. She kind of looks like a Disney princess.
And once again Anne articulates EXACTLY how I feel: “And the faithful Christian, who has finally unshackled himself [from a mainline denomination], for the first time in a long time, basks in the astonishing grace of being with other real Christians. I remember the first time I recited the Nicene Creed in the company of a room full of other people who all believed it without crossing their fingers, and how I began to cry, and bite my lip, because I didn’t even know it was a thing that could be.” I know that feeling!
So if you’re lost and wandering, come stumbling in like a prodigal child…
Today we remember the Victorian poet Robert Browning (1812-1889) who was born on this day 212 years ago. He wrote many long, wonderful poems including “My Last Duchess”, “The Pied Piper of Hamlin”, “Fra Lippo Lippi”, “The Ring and the Book” and many more.
I actually had a couple of lines from “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” on my senior page. (Yikes.) Over the years he has had many detractors but also many fans, including Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote “Browning Decides to Become a Poet”:
Today he is probably as well known for his romance with poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning as for his poetry, but c’est la vie. His poems are pretty great. You can read some here.
And if you have a mind to, you could watch one or both of the two filmed versions of The Barretts of Wimpole Street.
So dust off an old college book and read an old poem by Robert Browning (or Borges).
The lark’s on the wing; The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in His heaven, All’s right with the world!
It was a rainy, busy weekend. I went to two of the five (!) scheduled reunion events and I enjoyed myself. However, I reached my level of introvert overload very quickly and baled pretty early both times.
The highlight of my weekend was when my two oldest friends…
…came over to my house for lunch on Saturday and we gabbed away for three hours and laughed til we cried. I’m not sure if we lived up to Saint Paul’s direction to “older women” to be “reverent in behavior” and “not slanderers”, but at least we were not drinking. (Titus 2:3) We did not talk about the distant past, but about other more important things. We agreed that it is, indeed, the small things that bring us joy. We are happy to be alive and kickin’ and do not worry about being skinny and wearing false eyelashes. We’re glad to have the same husbands we started out with and children that still talk to us.
At church on Sunday we had another really wonderful class on Stories as Apologetics–this week on J.R.R. Tolkien and the problem of evil in the LOTR trilogy. Our leader talked about Boethian’s view of Evil vs. The Manichaean (Gnostic) view of Evil and how Good seems to be to be absent in LOTR but isn’t. It is like being back in college for an hour a week. Our sermon was on Titus 2:1-10 and I felt convicted (see above) of my sin and lack of self control, which I readily admit is a good thing.
Daughter #1 came over on Sunday afternoon and we drank a margarita in honor of Cinco de Mayo and ate the guacamole that the OM had made for the church Pig Roast on Saturday. Unfortunately, the Pig Roast had to be moved inside because of rain. (We skipped it.)
I watched Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) with the Rock, Kevin Hart and Jack Black. It is hilarious. No bad language, minimal vulgarity, a clever plot, and good lessons about teamwork and using your gifts–what more can you ask for?
Also, I love these pics of little Lottie playing against 10-year olds! You go, girl!
Well, daughter #1 returned safely from Wyoming and dutifully impressed her nephew with pictures of giant trucks.
As well he should be.
Meanwhile baby Ida is becoming a music prodigy…
She can even play with her feet!
And Katie went to the dentist for the first time and was a champ…
I made it through round #1 of my reunion.
We had to sit through some blather from the current headmaster, but it was really quite pleasant and good to see some old classmates. Onward and upward.
Have a good weekend!
Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.
Today is the first day of my 50th high school reunion extravaganza. Please pray for me. I am going to two of the five planned events/get-togethers. And my two oldest BFFs are coming over for lunch on Saturday. Also our church Pig Roast is being held later that day…so it will be a busy weekend!
This bit from Amor Towles’ new novella Eve in Hollywood seems apropos:
Taking a deep breath, Prentice steeled his resolve and began making his way through the crowd toward his host.
It was a humbling journey. A gauntlet composed of every sort of slight. First there was the director of light romances who turned his body just enough to make a casual encounter with Prentice less likely. Then the actress who hadn’t worked since the advent of talkies, who waved at Prentice enthusiastically. Then the writer of droll comedies who nudged a fellow scribbler in order to make a wry remark resulting in an audible guffaw. While scattered throughout were starlets whose eyes barely settled on Prentice at all, recognizing instinctively from the way the others treated him that he was not a man of consequence.
Well, so be it. For that which humbles our sense of vanity prepares us to face that which insults our sense of honor!
Today is also the National Day of Prayer. Following a challenge by Billy Graham, the spring observance was established by President Harry Truman in 1952. Get praying, y’all.
I have to say: thank goodness for Florida. The University of Florida released a memo to students late last week outlining what conduct was unacceptable and the consequences that protesters would face if they chose to violate school policy. “This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences,” the school said. Local media reported that nine individuals were arrested on campus by the university’s police department and the Florida Highway Patrol. Would that other universities and college administrators could be so direct and follow through so mindfully.
And here is John Piper’s counsel for godly parenting. Really good advice.
*The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, 15 To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Hello from daughter #2! I am checking in today to share a bit from our new home in the midwest. We have been here for nearly 3 months, and I think that is fairly represented in the state of our unpacking. We have been entirely functional for quite some time, we have purchased a few vintage/antique “scores” for new spaces we have in this house, and we have hung up some artwork — albeit, mostly in existing holes in the walls. The basement, however, is still hiding dozens of half-packed boxes.
One of the biggest undertakings has been the gargantuan task of unpacking our book collection. DN and I had lived in two apartments and a house together before moving to this home, which means we have packed and unpacked (or stored) books numerous times. DN brought boxes that had been packed for 10 years!
“I am unpacking my library. Yes, I am. The books are not yet on the shelves, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order. . . .I must ask you to join me in the disorder of crates that have been wrenched open, the air saturated with the dust of wood, the floor covered with torn paper, to join me among piles of volumes that are seeing daylight again after two years of darkness, so that you may be ready to share with a bit of the mood–it is certainly not an elegiac mood but, rather, one of anticipation–which these books arouse in the genuine collector.”
Walter Benjamin, “Unpacking My Library”
Yes, there was a satisfying anticipation to seeing the collection spread out all together on our dining room floor — I was happy to remember all that we have, and consider how we might sort things, and arrange them in various places, and decide what I might re-read next. The project also revealed, in a satisfying way, all that could be sorted out of the collection: mostly those books I never liked in the first place, but held onto for some feeling of what I should have or might need as a “literary scholar.” How freeing to simply keep the books I like!
Fun fact: all these years collecting together account for five copies of Mrs. Dalloway and six copies of Moby-Dick, none of which we would really consider giving away. There’s the first copy of Moby-Dick I ever read, the copy I purchased in Ireland to re-read, the copy I gave to DN the first Christmas after I met him, at least one desk copy, a new Norton Critical Edition that was sent to me, and a Rockwell Kent illustrated edition that my mother gave me. I recall once babysitting children at their grandparents’ house, where the man had an entire (full) bookcase dedicated to editions of Moby-Dick. He also had a pond with koi named Moby and Dick. Oh, how I can now relate!
This project is not yet complete, but it is satisfying to see the built-in bookshelves in our family room nearly full with books (and yes, a few toys).
Can you believe this is the last day of April? Me neither. We had a drought–now we have flooding! A lot of rain over the weekend and Sunday night. Hoo-boy!
Well, today we remember Richard McClure Scarry (1919-1994) who died on this day thirty years ago. His books are just the best–he actually has a series of Best Ever books–I mean, don’t we all wish we could live in Busytown?
Scarry published his first book in 1949. Over his lifetime he published 300 more and had total sales of over 100 million worldwide. Three generations of my family have really loved these books. (I still do!)
The young bud plays with lots of toys when he visits our house, but he almost always ends up in Busytown.
Who do you relate to best?
Personally I always picture myself as Dingo Dog when I drive around town in my Mini Coop…
So a toast to Richard Scarry and all the inhabitants of Busytown! And brush your teeth!
I was very happy to see that the water lily is blooming in daughter #2’s fish pond!
Very exciting indeed. Almost as exciting as going to Costco for the first time where “We can buy anything we’d ever want here!”
The weekend here started off cold and rainy and then turned warm and rainy and that always means severe weather. We dodged another bullet, but it was an unsettled weekend. Par for the course.
On Saturday the OM and I went to a secular “Celebration of Life” of an old friend who died suddenly in an accident at home. He was one of the first people we met when me moved to Kirkwood 28 years ago. He was the father of three boys, one who was our son’s best friend in elementary school. He was the coach of the soccer team and the basketball team and a scouter. He always reminded me of Henry Fonda. His family went to our old church, but over the years they had drifted away from the Episcopal Church and from organized religion. It was a sad gathering on many levels and yet another reminder that we are all mortal and that our number can come up any day.
So put your house in order. And by that I mean your spiritual house as well. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
–Luke 12:35-40
On Sunday we had a good sermon on Church Discipline based on Titus 1:10-16. We also had an excellent Sunday School class about the Epic of Gilgamesh, which pre-dates the Bible. I love that the adult Sunday School classes are always full and people are interested in learning new/old things.
Meanwhile Mr. Smith spent the night last night because daughter #1 had to get up early and fly to Wyoming.
So I am taking him to the kennel today. (This is the same kennel where we boarded our dog back in the 1960s! They have been in business since 1935. Isn’t that something?) He will have a nice spa vacay while daughter #1 works hard to keep him supplied with Newman’s Own dog treats.
dual personalities 