Yesterday was quite a lot. I was happy to sit and watch all the celebrating from my warm flyover home. The vibe has changed.
It was also Martin Luther King Day, so here’s a quote from his “The Measure of a Man”:
“So I say to you, seek God and discover him and make him a power in your life. Without him all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrises into darkest nights. Without him, life is a meaningless drama with the decisive scenes missing. But with him we are able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. With him we are able to rise from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy. St. Augustine was right—we were made for God and we will be restless until we find rest in him.”
Well, the sun came out yesterday and we enjoyed blue skies. Unfortunately the temperature peaked in the mid-twenties and nothing melted. Our driveway did get plowed on Tuesday night so we were free to leave, but I was not moved to do so.
But now, while we have loitered, the clouds have gathered again, and a few straggling snow-flakes are beginning to descend. Faster and faster they fall, shutting out the distant objects from sight. The snow falls on every wood and field, and no crevice is forgotten; by the river and the pond, on the hill and in the valley. Quadrupeds are confined to their coverts, and the birds sit upon their perches this peaceful hour. There is not so much sound as in fair weather, but silently and gradually every slope, and the gray walls and fences, and the polished ice, and the sere leaves, which were not buried before, are concealed, and the tracks of men and beasts are lost. With so little effort does nature reassert her rule and blot out the traces of men. Hear how Homer has described the same. “The snow-flakes fall thick and fast on a winter’s day. The winds are lulled, and the snow falls incessant, covering the tops of the mountains, and the hills, and the plains where the lotus-tree grows, and the cultivated fields, and they are falling by the inlets and shores of the foaming sea, but are silently dissolved by the waves.” The snow levels all things, and infolds them deeper in the bosom of nature, as, in the slow summer, vegetation creeps up to the entablature of the temple, and the turrets of the castle, and helps her to prevail over art.
Inspired by HDT, I donned my winter wear and sallied forth to walk around my yard. Not a whole lot going on. Saw some rabbit tracks. I came back in and then struggled mightily to get my Hunter boots off. Good grief, Charlie Brown.
In winter we lead a more inward life. Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts, whose windows and doors are half concealed, but from whose chimneys the smoke cheerfully ascends. The imprisoning drifts increase the sense of comfort which the house affords, and in the coldest days we are content to sit over the hearth and see the sky through the chimney top, enjoying the quiet and serene life that may be had in a warm corner by the chimney side, or feeling our pulse by listening to the low of cattle in the street, or the sound of the flail in distant barns all the long afternoon. No doubt a skilful physician could determine our health by observing how these simple and natural sounds affected us. We enjoy now, not an oriental, but a boreal leisure, around warm stoves and fireplaces, and watch the shadow of motes in the sunbeams.
“He went to the church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and for, and patted the children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of homes, and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed of any walk, that anything, could give him so much happiness.”
–Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843
So much happiness!
The drawing is by Quentin Blake (b. 1932), illustrator, Quentin Blake’s A Christmas Carol, 1995
Well, I got my new license plates at the DMV yesterday. Bingpot! It wasn’t a terrible experience. Somehow I feel that everyone is feeling lighter and less burdened by care these days. Waiting/standing in a long line is not the end of the world.
In my morning Bible reading I am in 2 Corinthians and I was struck by this:
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. (2 Cor. 1:12)
What a gem! Make that my epitaph, please. I’m afraid I have a long way to go, however, in becoming more serious, less frivolous. My fellow church members are a very serious tribe. They do not joke around. I am learning.
I know what I have to do–in the words of Charles Spurgeon: “We must conquer—some of us especially—our tendency to levity. A great distinction exists between holy cheerfulness, which is a virtue, and that general levity, which is a vice. There is a levity which has not enough heart to laugh, but trifles with everything; it is flippant, hollow, unreal. A hearty laugh is no more levity than a hearty cry.”
So let us try to be more cheerful and less relentlessly superficial (as John Piper would say). One day at a time.
Today we celebrate the birth of Charles Monroe “Sparky” Schulz (1922-2000), cartoonist and creator of Peanuts. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists in history, and cited by many cartoonists as a major influence. I, of course, have been a fan since the mid-1960s.
Funnily enough, as I get older, I look more and more like Linus…
Linus has always been the character I relate to most (not Lucy as my siblings would argue). There is certainly someone for everyone to relate to in this great classic comic strip. To whom do you relate most?
We also remember that in 1789 George Washington recommended that November 26 be “devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.”
Well said, President Washington!
In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November. It has been observed on the fourth Thursday in November since 1942.
Meanwhile I am busy readying my house for precious visitors arriving tomorrow. Thankful for good times ahead and praying for travel mercies tomorrow!
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27
Do you need to preach truth to yourself today? This post addresses this: “I don’t know about you, but despite my best efforts not to get mired down in the election bruhaha, a sense of dread has seeped into my psyche as the day draws near. From political texts blowing up my phone to interminable campaign commercials zipping by as I fast-forward past them and even comic strips, I can’t escape the ever-present signs that the event is barreling down on us.”
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Yesterday Ron, my co-editor of the Kirkwood Historical Review, came over to discuss the issue I am currently getting ready to send to the printer and he grumbled about how nippy it was outside. Indeed, the frost will be on the pumpkin very soon! And about time, really. I am ready for nippy.
Today we toast Jane Darwell, the wonderful character actress of 170+ films, who was born on this day in 1879.
I was surprised to learn that she was born in Palmyra, Missouri, the daughter of the president of the Louisville Southern Railroad. You can actually visit her birthplace, which is on the National Register of Historic places. I just saw her in My Darling Clementine (1946) and she was wonderful as always. Other favorites include: Bright Eyes (1934) plus four other Shirley Temple movies, 3Godfathers (1948), Wagon Master (1950), and her final film, Mary Poppins (1964) as the old Bird Woman. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
In October desiringGod is on a 31-day journey with Heroes of the Reformation. Every day they highlight a different hero, such as Thomas Cranmer. Not surprisingly, I am enjoying it a lot.
This is a very hopeful article about preaching the gospel in the wasteland of New England.
Meanwhile, the prairie girls went to the library and Ida was, as usual, too cool for school.
We had absolutely perfect weather this weekend–cool, sunny, breezy, no humidity. We did all the things. DN went to his wedding and we had serious Compton Lady time…
We went to the Missouri Botanical Garden where I had not been for literally years. The Koi are almost gone! The geese have taken over! Otherwise, it looked great.
We watched the bud play soccer…
I made it to church and to a great Sunday School class on Being Presbyterian.
Doubtless, were we to regard things as they appear, the kingdom of Christ would seem often to be on the verge of ruin. But the promise, that Christ shall never be thrust from his seat, takes away from us every fear.
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, 25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, 26 who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’…
(Isaiah 44:24-26)
Here’s more Isaiah to propel us into the weekend. I daresay we can all use it.
We are heading to Jefferson City today and the boy and his family are heading out to the beach on Sunday so traveling mercies to all who are on the road. We also wish the boy and daughter #3 a happy 12th anniversary on Sunday! Mazel tov!
I think I mentioned that I fell behind in my daily Bible reading over the past two weeks, but I am catching up. Yesterday I was rewarded with Isaiah 40-43, which covers a lot of familiar territory.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:28-31)
I was also reminded of last year’s VBS where the kids memorized the following:
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
(Isaiah 41:10)
And these verses were important in Pilgrim’s Progress:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
(Isaiah 43:1-3)
These are all great verses, especially when we are in need of hope and comfort.
This article gives solid advice for when your mind gets stuck in unproductive places.
And I really liked this one about prayer postures in the Bible. I need all the help I can get in increasing my prayer time. I tend to “remember [God] upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night.” (Psalm 63:6) My wandering mind betrays me during the day when I try to focus. I can do better.
Meanwhile I am rearranging my office and I moved a small bookcase. The question arises: how many copies of the BCP do I really need?
dual personalities 