Wednesday without words

Learning to the work at my leisure

The past couple of days, I have come to a few realizations about myself.  This isn't really "learning" about yourself-- you know these things on some level.  But I have had two "Oh, I get it" moments.

The first is that I am perceived as being very naive. Now, I have known my family believed this about me from of old.  It has been a constant source of good-natured teasing.  But apparently some of my friends believe this too (you know who you are).  Somehow this surprised me.  I only wish I were as unworldly as I apparently appear!

The second is that I am a do-er, a person who likes to keep busy and get things accomplished.  Those of you who know me well might respond to this "revelation" in the same way I responded to my eldest son when, two or three years into college, he announced, "Mom, I think I might be good at languages."  I slapped my head and said, "Well, duh!  I have been telling you that since you were five!"  But seriously, life as a lady of leisure simply doesn't agree with my inclinations.  Nevertheless, God has placed me in a season when, without rest in the middle of the day, I cannot sleep at night, I cannot function during the day, and I am a horrid human being.  So my real revelation is that I have to think about my time of rest differently if I am going to survive it and thrive, and if those around me are going to be able to tolerate me.

This morning I read the "The Top 10 Things I've Learned from Living with Chronic Illness," written by a young fellow with rheumatoid arthritis.  I think my list would look a little different than his, but his first point says in part:

1. Getting all of the rest that I need does not make me lazy. Even when I’m not moving, my body is expending a huge amount of energy on powering its overactive immune system, and on defending itself from the subsequent pain and inflammation. - See more at: http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2011/11/10-things-ive-learned-from-living-with-chronic-illness/#sthash.aW293KwO.dpuf

Getting all of the rest that I need does not make me lazy. Even when I’m not moving, my body is expending a huge amount of energy on powering its overactive immune system, and on defending itself from the subsequent pain and inflammation.

That provided a light bulb moment: that really is what I am doing!  I am allowing my body to fight the disease process at work in me.  What may look lazy on the outside is utterly important to me on the inside, and thus important for me to embrace for this season.  And since I have this disease, I can rest knowing God intends me to "do" ithe best resting I can. 

So, I continue, as I am sure you do, Gentle Reader, to look for God;'s blessings, and to understand the person He has made me and what He wants me to do with her in the precious time available to me.  May we both keep learning.

1. Getting all of the rest that I need does not make me lazy. Even when I’m not moving, my body is expending a huge amount of energy on powering its overactive immune system, and on defending itself from the subsequent pain and inflammation. - See more at: http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2011/11/10-things-ive-learned-from-living-with-chronic-illness/#sthash.aW293KwO.dpuf

1. Getting all of the rest that I need does not make me lazy. Even when I’m not moving, my body is expending a huge amount of energy on powering its overactive immune system, and on defending itself from the subsequent pain and inflammation. - See more at: http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2011/11/10-things-ive-learned-from-living-with-chronic-illness/#sthash.aW293KwO.dpuf

Matchmaking

Every year I dream of going to the annual conference sponsored by the Circe Institute.  Each year, the conference has an enticing title: A Contemplation of Justice, a Contemplation of Man, a Contemplation of Rest.  Just the idea of contemplating sounds so refreshing!  This past month the conference was about judgment: how to judge everything.  I am looking forward to hearing talks and discussing ideas with friends who attended.  And maybe one of these years, I can make it myself.

One friend who tweeted during the conference posted an idea that I can't let go of.  She quoted one of the speakers (I believe Dr. Peter Kreeft) as saying that teaching is really match-making: Student, meet Plato.  Wow- that's a talk I've got to hear.  But I keep pondering the notion of teaching as matchmaking. Teaching is really causing your students to fall in love with (or at least be willing to amicably co-exist with) the authors, composers, or ideas you are presenting to them.  Of course, this is not a new concept for any good teacher, but a novel spin on the idea. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a former student of mine could say, "I first met Socrates in her class!"  Or "I first sang Brahms in her choir!" in that dreamy way we all talk about first encountering the loves of our lives, from real people to fictional, from hobbies to books to people. I hope I can inspire my students to make life-long matches.

But I don't want that to be the end of what I inspire my students to do.  The reason I want them to love Aristotle, or Beethoven, or grammar, or Washington Irving, is because the God who created them is so very worthy of their love.  Loving the creation often leads to loving the Creator. And that is a match made in heaven and for eternity.

Sabbath Songs

Fill Thou My Life, O Lord. my God by Horatius Bonar, 1866

1. Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,
     In every part with praise,
   That my whole being may proclaim
     Thy being and Thy ways.
2. Not for the lip of praise alone,
     Nor e’en the praising heart,
   I ask, but for a life made up
     Of praise in every part:
3. Praise in the common things of life,
     Its goings out and in;
   Praise in each duty and each deed,
     However small and mean.
4. Fill every part of me with praise;
     Let all my being speak
   Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord,
     Poor though I be and weak.
5. So shall no part of day or night
     From sacredness be free,
   But all my life, in every step,
     Be fellowship with Thee.

Five for Friday

For some time now, I have been contemplating a post each week which has some kind of category and a list.  Because I am a bear of very little brain, a top-10-type list was too much.  But Five for Friday sounds about right to me.  I invite any of my blogging friends to join me in this Friday posting idea.

Let me start with five things worthy of reinstating the stocks and the pillory.  You know stocks and pillories, Gentle Reader-- those places where depraved persons would be forcibly tethered and their fellow citizens could throw rotten fruits and vegetables at them and discgrace them in public?  It seems to me that there are a few categories of people for whom this would be a just, nay even a gracious, punishment.  And here they are:
1. Computer hackers, who wreak havoc with the time of others for sport.
2. Identity theives, not content to steal from others, but set on ruining lives of others.
3. People who riot.  Whatever the supposed "spark", anger is never a righteous justification for wholesale destruction of property and the livlihood of others. When it comes to people who inflame others to riot,  I am not sure the stocks or pillories is actually sufficient for those folks.  Inflaming emotion rather than reasoning with others and seeking reconciliation is evil.
4. People who vandalize and destroy things of function or beauty just for the sake of the destruction.  Such people are barbarians, and need to be taught what it means to live in a civilized society.
5.  People who write (articles, books, research papers, homework) for others to claim as their own, and the people who pay them to do it.  This is a type of moral theft and deep dishonesty that ought not to be countenanced

What would you add to my list, Gentle Reader?

Thursday thought: the sanctifying power of marriage

After writing about marriage on my anniversary, I have continued to ponder the power of that God-ordained institution.  And this week I ran across this quote:

But what if the meaning of marriage is for stretching, for no-pain-no-gain advance in maturity, rather than for primarily having one's desires met?  What if we went into a marriage with the attitude of adorning the other?  What a paradigm shift that would be.  What if we understood that we are all works in progress-- and what of we were willing for that work?  What if we counted the ways that godly marriage is a constant reenactment of Christ's relationship with the church (Ephesians 5:32)
And what if we finally realized that our brief pilgrimage on this terrestrial ball is the only chance we will ever have to love God without seeing Him, and to develop the character we will take with us into eternity?
~"Stretch marks" by Andree Seu Peterson, World Magazine, July 13, 2013, p.71

I wish I had written that.  Read the full article here.

Marriage, when it is what it was meant to be, sanctifies us as we learn to die to self and live for others.  It humbles and blesses us as another person freely dies to themselves for us.  And it shows something of the amazing, grace-filled, counter-intuitive relationship Christ has with His bride.  What a lovely thing.

Wednesday without words

A night at the opera

 

 Last night we enjoyed a night at the Santa Fe Opera.  We began with old friends and new friends having a fancy tail-gate.  The Baers, Hollises, and Weavers, dear "old" friends, joined us, and summer students Ashley and Andrew joined us, along with Ashley's family from Wisconsin-- making up the "new friend" contingent. There were 16 of us gathered under stormy skies to enjoy our feast.

We enjoyed chicken salad, cold chicken wings, croissants, broccoli salad, three bean salad, smoked salmon, cold ham, caprese salad, shrimp-mango-cucumber salad in small tortilla cups,  potato salad, fruit skewers, fruit with a chocolate drizzle, cheese fresh from a Wisconsin farm (nothing like fresh, creamy colby!), a strawberry fluff, chocolate mousse, and drank champagne, sparkling cider, or hibiscus-peach iced tea. It was delightful despite the threat of downpour, and occaisional sprinkles.  But the real rain held off until we had finished eating and made our way into the opera house.

For those who have never been to the Santa Fe Opera, it is an amazing space.  It is acoustically perfect, open-air, and filled on opera nights with world-class musicians. Watching an opera with a sunset or thunderstorm over the Jemez mountains as a backdrop is really incredible.  We saw Offenbach's Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, and while it was not my favorite opera of all time, it was nothing but fun, and reminiscent of something more like Gilbert-and-Sullivan than high opera.  It was silly and funny, and I think everyone had a good time. I know I did!  

Last night we headed for Santa Fe around 6 PM and didn't arrive home until 12:30 or so this morning.  It might take me a few days to recover from having so much fun!

Thirty-three years of marriage

Thirty-three years ago today, I married my best friend.  Those years have brought joy and triumph, pain and sorrow, and the kind of growth that is costly. We married in a world where many things were taken for granted: it was taken for granted, for instance, that marriage was between a man and a woman because it reflected the very nature of man and how God had created him male and female. It was taken for granted that marriage would not be rosy, but was intended to last during richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and until one of us died.  Neither of these things are taken for granted any longer. But they are still true, nevertheless.

My marriage has been full of struggles and joy and growth, and my friendship with the love of my life has grown sweeter and deeper as the years have gone by.  But that is not the most important thing about my marriage.  My marriage reflects something of the mystical union of Christ and His church-- as all marriages are intended to do.  It means the forging of one family out of two very different beings, and the supernatural making of a new unit that propagates life and sustains community. No other social structure has ever been successful in sustaining culture or nurturing the future as marriage has.  I can't for the life of me understand why our society is determined to run headlong towards abandonment (beginning with redefinition) of something that has the capacity to create such beauty.

Thirty three years is a pretty respectable number.  I wouldn't trade one of them.  Dave has been a friend and lover that has reflected Christ to me in the way he loves me, despite knowing me as well as he does, and seeing me more and more clearly over the years.  His love for me has humbled me in his ever-faithful decision to love me despite my not deserving it. And learning to love him, especially when he doesn't deserve it, has been one of the best lessons of my life.

Today I rejoice in the marvels God has accomplished in our hearts, in our family, and in the world through this institution of marriage.  May God preserve and protect it.

Thursday thought: Beware Classical-Christian-Education-in-a-Box

I am often asked, "What is classical education?"  And truly, the definition is a bit challenging to state succinctly.  In my own mind, as I consider the ideal education, I cannot separate classical from Christian education, though a classical education that is non-Christian is still more resonant with Christian principles than the progressive garbage that sometimes passes as Christian education today. 

Classical Christian education involves nurturing the virtues of godliness (primarily beauty, goodness, truth, justice, mercy, freedom, and wisdom) so that one may live a life that glorifies God and live eternally to enjoy Him forever.  It leans heavily on the content of great sages of the past, and applies that wisdom to the current age. It is more about the mentoring relationship between elder and pupil than it is about curriculum, though the curriculum must lead the student towards becoming the type of person mentioned above.   It is about learning to develop one's God-given gifts, and to apply them in God's economy in this world.  Its goal is to understand the nature of both God and man, and act in reality with wisdom and grace.

If you find a "Classical-Curriculum-in-a-Box", especially one that tries to sell you on its ease of use, realize it cannot be classical at all.  No worthy or noble thing is ever bought without price.  It is tough and painful to grow in good things.  Without struggling to understand challenging ideas and straining to learn disciplines that are difficult to master, no wisdom can be gained. And to quote my favorite "classical" movie, anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell something. In other words, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Whoever passes by what is over his head condemns his head to its present low altitude; for nothing can elevate a mind except what is over its head; and that elevation is not accomplished by capillary attraction, but only by the hard work of climbing up ropes, with sore hands and aching muscles.

~Mortimer Adler, “Invitation to the Pain of Learning”

Wednesday without words

Thursday thoughts: the desert

Now that I am a lady of leisure, it occurs to me that I may be able to return to a bit more blogging.  I have been storing up thoughts about a variety of subjects, and think I may articulate them here on Thursdays.  These will be random, delight-or-interest-driven ideas. Today, I'd like you to consider the desert with me.

When this Midwest girl moved to the high plains desert of Northern New Mexico, it was both a culture and a landscape shock.  We get a little more than 18 inches of precipitation a year here, and less in much of the surrounding area.  We often have a relative humidity of less than 10%, and can have a 24-hr temperature change of 30 or more degrees on a fairly regular basis.  The ground is scraggly and has been compared by two visitors-who-shall-not-be-named as "the result of the Fall", and the "other side of the moon." And the people who last here are a sort of tough, independent kind of folk.  Let's just say it took some getting used to.

But I have come to realize that living in a desert produces many good things.  Let me list a few:

• Almost nothing ever molds.
• Glasses of iced beverages rarely sweat in the summer- the water evaporates.
• You sweat, but you don't know it, because it evaporates. Instead of air-conditioning, we have evaporative coolers: we pump moist air through our houses, and it cools them as it evaporates.  This method can keep my house at 72 degrees when it is almost 90 outside. Amazing!
• Because it is barren, you notice things you would fail to notice in some lush, green space.  For instance, the changing color of the sun throughout the year in this dry, high altitude (I live at over 6300 feet.) is simply spectacular.  You notice the color in rocks, the differences in the green of different types of trees, or subtle changes in clouds.
• Without water, you come to appreciate it-- both its worth and its power.
• The dry atmosphere, high altitude, and clear weather make for the best and most dazzling skies anywhere.  The scope is big, the clouds are close, and the stars are limitless.
• The barrenness of the desert means that when things in the desert bloom, they do so spectacularly.
• God often uses the desert-- physically or metaphorically-- to produce mighty good things in us.  Christ, and many others in Scripture, were tempted or tried in a desert.  Suffering produces a kind of "desert effect" that yeilds much fruit in our lives.  Last Sunday we heard an excellent sermon on the gift of trials in our lives that was really convicting.  You can listen to it here.

So, I have grown to love and appreciate the desert-- a physical thing I saw little beauty and no benefit in when I moved here almost 30 years ago.  And spiritually, the desert of this world produces much fruit for those who have eyes to see it.  May we both keep our eyes peeled for the blooms in the desert, Gentle Reader.  

Wednesday without words

Our favorite Junior Ranger

My life as a lady of leisure; Or, It all depends on your perspective

Now that we've recovered from all the fun of June, and gotten past the Fourth, a new phase of my life has started.  The new requirements of every day include: rest, exercise, time with the Lord.  Everything else is icing on the cake or my day.  I have quit, cut back, and cut down, to give my body some much-needed healing time. 

The problem is that I am not a very good rester.  I am a doer.  And a thinker-up-of-excellent-ideas-that-involve-doing.  And I was raised as the eldest daughter in a large Catholic family, which automatically means I am overly-prone to guilt.  When my sweet husband encouraged me this week by asking how my "life as a lady of leisure" was coming along, I had to fight an attack of the guilts.  I have to somehow wrap my heart and mind around the idea that rest is an active thing that I am called to do for a period of time. And God never calls us to anything useless or meaningless.

If you look at the photo above carefully, you will notice a raven who was enjoying some soaring on the thermals above the Grand Canyon last week.  As I looked at him and snapped this shot, I thought it was amazing to see a bird soar like that and yet only be riding at my own eye-level.  But in reality, there are about 1500 feet below this fellow, and from his vantage point, he is soaring for real.  It all depends on your perspective.

So, if I am forced into the position of being a lady of leisure, how can I change my perspective to enjoy that position?  After all, I can imagine many worse scenarios than enforced quiet and relief of stress! Maybe a good way to fight the guilts is to embrace the calling, and enjoy extended time for prayer and reflection, for my audio books, sewing projects, quiet days,and stress relief.  Whatever your calling is, Gentle Reader, may you embrace it and trust in the Lord from whose hands it fell.  It is, after all, only a matter of perspective.

The Grand Canyon

Pictures as promised: