Musing on a Month

Open thy mind; take in what I explain
And keep it there; because to understand
Is not to know, if thou dost not retain.
- Dante

It is the perfect time of the morning. Just about 7:45 and the light is softly risen, emanating a warm glow to illuminate the day. Add the chilly air, and it is just so lovely. I could stay here for hours - enjoying a cup of coffee, journal, and stack of books.

My birthday was last weekend and I have a stack of new books that I want to dive into. Actually, I already have; I won't lie. A stack of new books to read makes me so happy. I'm not sure how you feel about that - perhaps it would stress you out because you would have a lot of reading to do, but to me, it excites the inner-workings of my mind that I have so many good books to read. To have a stack before me means I have hours of reading (expanding my horizons) ahead. Entering into a good story and/or learning by process of reading is one of my greatest delights.

January is my favourite month, and I am truly sad it is almost over. I hear that many people are cast down in January because of the dreary weather and the after-Christmas slump. I have always felt the exact opposite, actually. Obviously with a birthday, there tends to be some treats and celebratory times, which is lovely, but January also provides the coldest weather we get here, way down south, and I soak that in as much as I can, because this season does not last long. As I mentioned I usually have a stack of new books to read, from Christmas and then birthday, that I feel fully engaged and excited to jump into many good thoughts/musings in the new year.

To pause and give thanks is a good practice to keep, I think. I am just pausing to give thanks for January, all the books to read, my favourite weather here, and all the good people who are in my life that I have been privileged to see our touch base with this month. I am immensely grateful to God for providing that which is given to me.

26 Degrees

The cold is fierce
It pierces all the nooks
of my old home, even books
Shiver in their spines
and need another cover
to keep them warm this time.

It's all the same, yet it feels
different when the cold is real.

Seeping into my home, wood floors
creak as they freeze under my slippers.

Cup of tea steams, cooling quickly,
need to drink it faster, and write
more and more, to keep warm.
More words appear aided by tea,
under a blanket I warm and smile.
This is a place I'd like to be a while.

Mystery and Story

Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.
- Mark 4.11

It is the kind of day that is getting colder by the minute. I may need to grab a sweater in between a few of these words. As I have a snippet of time here under my blanket, my thoughts begin to wander, weaving in and out of some words that hold truths that my soul needs.

I cannot expect to know or understand everything that's going on, but I always wish I did. I am one who wants to know the details and the reasons, especially when it involves something close to me that I care about deeply. What is it in me that desires to know? Is it our human nature to want to know? Is it my personality?

Being a very introspective and reflective person, I always have thoughts going round my head. Inside, there's deep thinking going on most of the time. I suppose this can be both good and bad. As we all have certain traits that make up who we are, there can be good sides to it, and also a side that could lead into something not so good. These thoughts don't really turn off until I fall asleep, and even then sometimes the thoughts follow me into my dreams. Sometimes not.

I imagine myself in the time of Jesus sometimes as I read Scripture. If I were nearby when He was telling a story, what would I be thinking? The parables He told had deeper meanings and glimpses into what the Kingdom of God was like, which was especially helpful to those who didn't have faith and trust in the Kingdom of God. Since we don't always understand what is right in front of us, a story is sometimes what we need to bridge the knowing and the understanding. Sometimes a story can offer an image for us to dwell in, as a complex meaning can be brought into view as a story - something we can relate to our lives.

Perhaps that is how we can understand something better - through a story told to us, or even our own story as others might tell it. 

Winter Reads

When the weather gets cold, there's no better time to curl up with a book (or two) and some tea. Actually, I would say the same thing for every season, but winter seems to have a need for staying warm and cosy inside more often than other seasons.

Here are a few books I have been thoroughly enjoying lately. 

The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is an incomplete alliterative poem. Just as the suspense is building up and the story gets into a full swing, the story breaks off, and Tolkien never finished it. Tolkien's son Christopher does a wonderful job working with the various drafts and manuscripts written by his father, and writes several essays included in his book about the continued story. Where would Tolkien have taken the story if he worked on it more? What would happen with Lancelot and Gawain? It is interesting to ponder about what could have been. 

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Have you read this book? If not, then why aren't you reading it now? I just re-read it this weekend, and each time I read it, it is more wonderful, in the same way the Narnia books get better with each reading. It is a book for young people, and the theme of love is the undertone of everything. Meg is one we can relate to, as she feels inadequate and lacking the smarts (that her parents, both scientists, have), and yet she is the only one who can save her little brother. Her faults actually help her accomplish a triumph over darkness. L'Engle always wrote about family dynamics, struggles, and the love that families can demonstrate in her books. Mix all these deeper themes with space and time, traveling to other galaxies, and experiencing other planets and the strange inhabitants and you have a story you won't forget. Oh, yeah, and there is a movie coming out, but the book is always better. Be sure to read the book.

The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen

'She has many rare and charming qualities, but sobriety is not one of them.' This tiny Penguin classic book holds a collection of Austen's early writings, that include her usual wit and sarcastic humour about those in society. She wrote about what she knew best, and she can certainly capture some silliness and some very accurate portrayals of situations at that time. Austen is always so fun to read. I found myself chuckling several times while reading this little book.

Centuries of Meditations by Thomas Traherne

I have been slowly reading this book for a while, and finished it at the end of the year. It is a collection of his reflections and responses to life's questions. It is like a book of wisdom, written in the mid 1600's. Traherne went to Oxford, and C.S Lewis mentions reading this book in his letters, and enjoying it very much, so of course these things motivated me to read it. I have grown to like Traherne. Some of the passages are above my head, in the realms of metaphysical that I reach for. My imagination needs to work more to get to that point. I can see the influences he had on George MacDonald, and C.S. Lewis. I really did enjoy these writings, even if I didn't fully understand them all. These are the kinds of writings that the more I read them, the more they will unravel and reveal truths.

Winter Weather

Behold, this winter weather withers
Branches barely clinging beneath
Icy facades, cascading temperatures
Sweep through, settling into nooks.
Even our tropical-infused landscape
Makes no escape from frosty, freezing air.
Moonlit, star-scattered velvet sky of night,
Assures an icy cold resting on land.
The calm comes, bringing the freeze.
No winds now to scatter the dancing leaves.
They did dance to keep warm, under a clear, frigid dome.
Embrace warmth inside your heart and home.

I wrote this poem in the midst of several days last week of below freezing temperatures overnight, while in my home with only two portable heaters to warm me. Layers is how I kept the cold from sinking in. Living in an old place is a delight for its charm, but not very efficient when it comes to windows that keep the temperature outside from entering in. Even though I froze, I felt thankful that a real touch of winter had come this far south, and I tried to focus (when my brain thawed) and reflect on the beauty of winter, because I cannot deny the draw it has on me. 

As I wrote the words, I was reminded of a particular walk I took a few years ago, around Christ Church Meadow in Oxford. It was early Spring, but it was so cold, the trees seemed to be shivering. The breeze was icy, the ground seemed frosty, and the trees needed blankets.

Is God a Minimalist?

Jesus thus reveals a God who is no discrete minimalist. Abundance is the nature of God.
- William Willimon

We live in a world that (in its modern views thanks to Freud) assumes scarcity. It holds that there isn't enough love, grace, space, time, money, or things. We make our way trying to do it (whatever "it" may be) our way, with this assumption. While the modern view is to look at the world and see no direction or pattern infused, as Christians we should see the pattern of God intertwined in everything. That is what helps us see that we are each a part of the story, which is ongoing.  There is no end to this story.

God started this story of abundance. That we may choose to receive a gift we never would or could imagine. That we may be filled with His love to the point of overflowing. We each play our role as a character in that story (I like to think of it as one chunky, wonderful old leather bound book). We provide our own twists and turns by way of our choices and actions. Some leaves of the book may become scattered by actions as a result, but God will retrieve all the scattered leaves and bind them into the book because we are all part of the story. 

We may draw lines in our world, with exclusion and scarcity., but Jesus wipes all that away in the rain that covers all of us. A rain of grace, a salvation story we are to be included in, each person, no matter who they are. The same gift is given. The purpose of such actions is to draw all things unto God. He wants us to be close to Him.

God's actions and inclusivity is not a minimalist mentality, but one of love in abundance.

...for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 
- Colossians 1. 16-17

Freezing

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

- Gerard Manley Hopkins

Welcome to 2018 - and now you will all freeze with a winter chill!

This is what the world is telling us right now. I woke up to 31 degrees this morning, and will do the same for the next few mornings. This is Florida! This kind of cold usually doesn't make it all the way down to Florida, and if it does, it is usually here for a very short drive-thru visit. This time around, it's staying for a meal, and also for tea, and making itself comfortable for some story time.

These days I have a new appreciation for warmth and comfort.

I don't think one realizes how much comfort we need in extreme weather - hot or cold. When the hurricane came through this city this summer, I experienced the heat issue, when I was without power for almost a week. I couldn't stay in my home. I could not handle that kind of heat.

Now, in the winter, this blast of icy air has come down, which thrills me! If you know me, you know I love cold weather. However, I am without heat in my home (it needs to be repaired), and that changes things a bit. I live in an old place (built in 1950), so I know it comes with quirks. I have a few heaters going and I am doing well with wearing 5 layers and using 3 blankets. 

But it really does give me a true appreciation for how much we take for granted our comforts at home. And I continue to look upon this weather with excitement. I love having a cosy home, warm and comforting, and when the weather outside is frightful, come inside where it is delightful.

During these last several days of cold, I have been particularly reflective on the nature of nature. The power and majesty of God's creation. I look upon it in wonder. The words that best summarize this feeling is Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "God's Grandeur". The last stanza is above.

Hopkins was masterful at word play and alliteration, and also paid a great deal of attention to nature. I love how there is a sense of wonder as he looks toward nature, and even amidst turmoil and strife, or extreme weather in our case, "nature is never spent" and somehow our bent world is looked after by the Holy Spirit, bringing us comfort. Within the warm breast, we can rest in Jesus. Within the bright wings, we marvel at His creation. To borrow from Hopkins, 'the world is charged with the grandeur of God'.