Is it possible for me to slow it all down, to read fewer books, to sink right into them? I don't know if it is possible. I find that I am very impatient. I find that it isn't enough for me to be actively reading five different books at one time. There's always the urge to add in just one more.
Yesterday I wanted to read Kierkegaard. Why? Because someone somewhere said something that sounded something like something that he once wrote, and that made me hunger for Kierkegaard.
The day before I was reminded of all these people I wanted to study: Chesterton, McDonald, Lewis. If you know much about C.S. Lewis you get the idea. All these guys wrote all these books and they are deep. Why reminded? Because I read Walter Hooper's introduction to Lewis's published poems. Hooper writes that many of Lewis's prose works began their life in verse, and I went "Whoah. There is so much of this man I still don't know." He wasn't a great poet, at least that's what I've been told, but he had a passion for narrative poetry I knew nothing about. That got me thinking of all these men whose writings I dearly want to know.
There's always a flood of books to read; I've written of this before, but it remains, there is always a flood, and time is short and attentions are divided, and this is why I cannot settle down into reading only one book at a time.
But then this morning I read an interview WC Banfield did with Bobby McFerrin at the end of McFerrin's year and a half sabbatical. It was a true sabbatical for him, a year and a half away from the work and the worry and the world, and he said he needed to sit and think and hear. He said he needed to figure out why he was doing what he was doing, whether he was being nourished by his work or being merely drained by it. I think this is something for us all to consider, though even the most nourishing work cannot be consistently nourishing.
Last month I read Richard Foster's latest book on meditative prayer. In one chapter he spoke of the difficulty of presence. I know that when I sit quietly my thoughts are always going somewhere very far away. It may be plans or questions or analyses, those strivings to make sense of your own life, and these are so distracting. These many multitudinous thoughts are a distraction. Sometimes you need to sit and be, and this is such a challenge for us. Sometimes when we are sitting quietly we want so desperately for God to speak that we interrupt Him and interrupt ourselves. We guess at what He might be saying so that it becomes impossible to hear.
God sends me books, and I am constantly amazed at the interconnectedness I find among them. Books are good. They can be very good. But they run riot in my life, and can verge on becoming interruption instead of life imparting force. Actually, I kinda like the interruption.
Last year I wondered what would happen if I chose one book and really drank it in, reading it and it alone in all those available moments. I thought it would be Annie Dillard's The Living, and it's true that it would be a very good one to read in such a way. Since then I've probably read fifty books, so you can see how well that worked.
We wake up in the morning and we try it again, don't we? For me, cutting back on the number of books I read at one time would be a great discipline. To start a new book is an impulse, and one I only rarely deny. It is mostly a good impulse. Mostly.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Voice as Agency?
Every time I say I can't write right now, I feel like I'm whining, complaining...poor little me, I can't write. Maybe that's because I say it so often. Truth is, the ability to write comes and goes. I'll be "on" for a while...a whole month at a time, maybe. Sometimes even longer than that. And then the tap is turned, and even though there are thoughts, complaints, observations, clarities raging, there is no writing that can accommodate them.
It isn't the thought that is lost. It is the voice. The thought is there, but the voice becomes choked into silence, and usually that silence comes because internal factors are in play. I think I've written here before about the idea that sickness sometimes indicates other, more secretive stresses, stresses you've kept hidden even from yourself. Maybe you get sick because you haven't been feeding your body properly, with rest and nourishment and exercise. Maybe you're sick because you're in conflict with your spouse and neither of you will unbend enough to retrieve your love and care for one another from the theoretical mist. Maybe you are sick because you want something specific from God that isn't as ultimately sustaining as what he has planned for you. I think my loss of voice is something similar to this.
Or maybe I'm just tired.
But I hope to retrieve my voice and soon.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
My Writing Process
John Kelley asked me about my writing process this morning. My answer was that, um, I don't have one. Jim would tell me that I really ought to do something about that.
In the past I have had an idea, sat down, and written it, usually at 7:00 in the morning. The words just came more easily then. For a while I gave myself an hour every morning just to write. It was nice, but it never really progressed past process writing. None of that writing was ever published.
For a while I did some very intense note-taking, including a quantity of very careful Bible study. This generated a lot of writing as I riffed on things I was thinking in response to the text. None of that writing was ever published. Recently I have begun writing a comment, a blog post, anything really, over and over and over again, but nothing has come. Most of the time I've been stymied after about two sentences.
I surely would like to do some triage, figure out what the problem might be. I went on and on to my Dad the other day while we are at the pool, all of it concerning things I could be blogging about.
It still ain't happening.
Talk about being "long on diagnosis; short on cure." Except without the diagnosis part.
In the past I have had an idea, sat down, and written it, usually at 7:00 in the morning. The words just came more easily then. For a while I gave myself an hour every morning just to write. It was nice, but it never really progressed past process writing. None of that writing was ever published.
For a while I did some very intense note-taking, including a quantity of very careful Bible study. This generated a lot of writing as I riffed on things I was thinking in response to the text. None of that writing was ever published. Recently I have begun writing a comment, a blog post, anything really, over and over and over again, but nothing has come. Most of the time I've been stymied after about two sentences.
I surely would like to do some triage, figure out what the problem might be. I went on and on to my Dad the other day while we are at the pool, all of it concerning things I could be blogging about.
It still ain't happening.
Talk about being "long on diagnosis; short on cure." Except without the diagnosis part.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Morning Musings
Good morning, ya'll. I'm waiting for the sun to come out this morning, so I can see what part of my yard lights up. My plan, conceived only moments ago, was to pay attention to the yard all day so I can figure out where the garden needs to go. You see, I only start thinking about the garden at the most awkward times of year. I begin to believe that if I wait to dig my garden until the proper moment, that moment will come and go with nothing having been done. I have to make what progress I can when I can. And learn from the results. I don't for one moment think that this approach would work for everyone.
Anyway, I've been watching and waiting since 5:30 this morning, and still the lite-brite patches of grass have not appeared, and I think, God, I'm ready today. So where's the light? Sometimes His only answer to a question like that is, "I love you." I don't know what He has planned for me today, but He does, so I'm just going to have to be okay with that.
My walking partner is soon to arrive.
Michael found an injured cat outside our home last night. We wait for its owner to open her door so we can together figure out what to do next.
God only knows what this day will hold.
Anyway, I've been watching and waiting since 5:30 this morning, and still the lite-brite patches of grass have not appeared, and I think, God, I'm ready today. So where's the light? Sometimes His only answer to a question like that is, "I love you." I don't know what He has planned for me today, but He does, so I'm just going to have to be okay with that.
My walking partner is soon to arrive.
Michael found an injured cat outside our home last night. We wait for its owner to open her door so we can together figure out what to do next.
God only knows what this day will hold.
Friday, May 11, 2012
The Never-Ending Quest for Routines That Work
The older I get, it seems, the more dependent on routines I become, and the longer it takes for me to recover when the routine becomes disrupted. In fact, I have a great deal of trouble settling into any kind of routine in the first place. Gotta do something about that.
There are responsibilities emerging in the coming year which will make routines more important than ever. The best thing I can do to prepare is to start working out my routines with determination, trying to build up that consistency of which I feel an ever-growing need. And yet I have to cultivate flexibility as well. There will always be distractions and disruptions. Always.
This week we had to leave town in the middle of the week. Two full days after arriving home, I feel un-ruddered. Just exactly how long is this routine-making going to take?
How about you? What kind of schedules or routines have you found to be most effective?
There are responsibilities emerging in the coming year which will make routines more important than ever. The best thing I can do to prepare is to start working out my routines with determination, trying to build up that consistency of which I feel an ever-growing need. And yet I have to cultivate flexibility as well. There will always be distractions and disruptions. Always.
This week we had to leave town in the middle of the week. Two full days after arriving home, I feel un-ruddered. Just exactly how long is this routine-making going to take?
How about you? What kind of schedules or routines have you found to be most effective?
Monday, April 23, 2012
It is a Releif to be able to Mark Another Book on my Bookshelf Off as Read
I am writing on Saturday, and my goal for today is to finish reading Self-Employed Tax Solutions: Quick, Simple, Money-Saving, Audit-Proof Tax and Recordkeeping Basics for the Independent Professional, by June Walker. Do you know why I want to finish it? Mainly to get it off of my Reading Now list, as tracked by GoodReads.com. Do you think that is a silly reason for wanting to finish a book?
No, really, the book has been hanging around on my bookshelf for far too long this year already. This is my second read-through. When Michael was first dismissed from his job a year and a half ago, I borrowed a copy from our friend, Damon, who runs Greenhorn Gardening, a blog/podcast which teaches Organic Gardening methods for beginners***. It's a great book. Very, very readable. Not like any other tax book I have ever read. I got through it in a week, and promptly asked for a copy for Christmas that year.
This year I decided to re-read it in the midst of preparing taxes for ourselves and for our business. I made a note in the calendar to start working on taxes in January, placed Ms.Walker's book on my shelf, and then put off getting started until approximately the middle of March.
The book provides all kinds of information about deductions and such, with lots of clarifying examples. The first deadline for filing your taxes has come and gone, but there are still plenty of people who have filed for that automatically-granted extension allowing you to continue working on your 2011 taxes until mid-October. Self-Employed Tax solutions can help.
The part of the book I find most helpful is all of the information on good record-keeping practices, and the worksheets she provides for keeping track of all your stuff. She keeps it simple for those of you who aren't mathematically inclined, as many of her very creative clients are not.
I noticed when I visited her site on Saturday that she has an ebook available with forms and information you can use for your 2011 taxes. I don't know what the ebook is like, but if its anything like the longer book, it is imminently practical.
And, yes, I am finishing this post on Monday, and I did succeed in finishing with the book on Saturday. I'm already trying to get a jump start on our taxes for next year.
Why is it that my tax return, the tax and tag on my car, and my auto insurance all come due in the same month?
***Damon's podcasts are easily downloadable through iTunes. Just go in and do a search on "organic gardening," visit this link, or you can find his latest offerings on the blog. But this post isn't about that.
No, really, the book has been hanging around on my bookshelf for far too long this year already. This is my second read-through. When Michael was first dismissed from his job a year and a half ago, I borrowed a copy from our friend, Damon, who runs Greenhorn Gardening, a blog/podcast which teaches Organic Gardening methods for beginners***. It's a great book. Very, very readable. Not like any other tax book I have ever read. I got through it in a week, and promptly asked for a copy for Christmas that year.
This year I decided to re-read it in the midst of preparing taxes for ourselves and for our business. I made a note in the calendar to start working on taxes in January, placed Ms.Walker's book on my shelf, and then put off getting started until approximately the middle of March.
The book provides all kinds of information about deductions and such, with lots of clarifying examples. The first deadline for filing your taxes has come and gone, but there are still plenty of people who have filed for that automatically-granted extension allowing you to continue working on your 2011 taxes until mid-October. Self-Employed Tax solutions can help.
The part of the book I find most helpful is all of the information on good record-keeping practices, and the worksheets she provides for keeping track of all your stuff. She keeps it simple for those of you who aren't mathematically inclined, as many of her very creative clients are not.
I noticed when I visited her site on Saturday that she has an ebook available with forms and information you can use for your 2011 taxes. I don't know what the ebook is like, but if its anything like the longer book, it is imminently practical.
And, yes, I am finishing this post on Monday, and I did succeed in finishing with the book on Saturday. I'm already trying to get a jump start on our taxes for next year.
Why is it that my tax return, the tax and tag on my car, and my auto insurance all come due in the same month?
***Damon's podcasts are easily downloadable through iTunes. Just go in and do a search on "organic gardening," visit this link, or you can find his latest offerings on the blog. But this post isn't about that.
Friday, April 20, 2012
What I've Been Up To Lately
Taxes. Taxes. More taxes. Taxes consumed me for a month and a half. That isn't to say that I was working on them non-stop during that time. I took long leisurely breaks encompassing days. But even when I wasn't actually doing the taxes they weighed heavily on my mind. It was hard to think about much of anything else.
Next year it's going to be different. Yeah. Sure it is.
Here is how it is going to be different. For the rest of the year I will be preparing quarterly statements. I'll be looking at home office expenses, business miles on the car, every receipt, every expenditure we make, and I'll be compiling that information every three months. I was doing those things already, but not in any systematic way. It's the system that has to change. I always thought I would be able to catch up on these tiny details later, and I did. But tax time would have been so much easier if I hadn't had to bring all of my accounting records up to date before getting started.
I am not an accountant. I do not know how to use any fancy algorithms, and automated software doesn't appeal to me. I do really simple stuff. But I am interested in the details, and I enjoy paperwork. I prepared closing statements for home loan closings for a while, so I am good at reconciling accounts. I can do this. If I keep up with it.
Keeping up with it is the hard part. I will happily tell you how I do that at a later date.
Highlights of the last couple of weeks:
Next year it's going to be different. Yeah. Sure it is.
Here is how it is going to be different. For the rest of the year I will be preparing quarterly statements. I'll be looking at home office expenses, business miles on the car, every receipt, every expenditure we make, and I'll be compiling that information every three months. I was doing those things already, but not in any systematic way. It's the system that has to change. I always thought I would be able to catch up on these tiny details later, and I did. But tax time would have been so much easier if I hadn't had to bring all of my accounting records up to date before getting started.
I am not an accountant. I do not know how to use any fancy algorithms, and automated software doesn't appeal to me. I do really simple stuff. But I am interested in the details, and I enjoy paperwork. I prepared closing statements for home loan closings for a while, so I am good at reconciling accounts. I can do this. If I keep up with it.
Keeping up with it is the hard part. I will happily tell you how I do that at a later date.
Highlights of the last couple of weeks:
- Finding some old friends on-line and making plans to catch up with them, once I've caught my breath from the residual tax flurry.
- Trading emails with the effervescent Emily Fowler, who is ministering with her husband and children in France right now.
- Typing up a list of commitments I've made to myself at Stephen Covey's behest, as I've been reading his business leadership classic, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and resolving to review those commitments daily. So far it is really working for me. One of my commitments is to review my calendar every morning so I'll never forget another WIC assessment or go to an eye-appointment half an hour late ever again. There are stories that go with those examples.
- Deciding to participate in Classical Conversations with Parker next year, so that we can get down to this education thing in well organized fashion.
- Music and Books. More music and books.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
One of my favorite website: this one helps with Scripture Memory
I have been trying to put something together to post on here for weeks, but it's all been a no-go. Briefly (or not so briefly), let me tell you about what has become one of my favorite websites: www.scripturetyper.com. This is a scripture memory service recommended by Ann Voscamp, who writes A Holy Experience.
First, why memorizing Scripture is a great idea:
You know what, if you have a student who has already mastered basic typing skills, I bet Scripture Typer would really help them build up their speed and accuracy. Since I've been typing for twenty years at this point, it may be too late for me to improve too terribly much, but for someone who is just starting out, I imagine this site would be a big help.
It's a pretty cool website, and I like it.
First, why memorizing Scripture is a great idea:
- Scripture memory is awesome for a variety of reasons. With minimal planning it can be done anytime and anywhere. You'll never again be at a loss for something to do while sitting through a Commencement processional.
- It's great for people who bore easily, because once you've memorized several passages, you always have them with you and you can go over them in your mind without using index cards for prompting.
- It helps you to focus on whichever passage you are working on. It becomes a form of meditation (the filling kind as opposed to the emptying kind), and the words almost naturally take on their fuller meaning, as you spend more time thinking about what the passage is saying.
- Scripture memory combined with recitation helps you to turn your attention back to God when your mind starts becoming too self-focused during the course of your day.
- Your theology becomes richer and more complete as you start noticing connections between Scriptures and teachings that you may have been oblivious to before. This is a great boon in Bible Study and in Worship Service contexts. Last week in church I questioned a phrase used in one of the songs we sang, but quickly remembered where the idea had been drawn from because I had already memorized that verse. I was able to think about the context of the verse, and even look it up since I had a good idea of where that verse was located.
- Your memory gradually improves as you get into the habit of exercising it daily.
- You know you aren't wasting your time, because this is the word of God you're working on.
- I think the best thing the website does is build in accountability and review. In fact, that is my favorite thing about it. You can set up your profile to send reminder emails on the schedule you choose. I have a reminder sent to me once a week, but I never need the reminder because...
- The site provides a review page that keeps up with a rotating schedule of scriptures for review. As part of my regularly scheduled study time, I check my review page daily.
- The website chooses the scriptures you review each day based on how many times the scripture has been typed, and when was the last time you typed it. This way you don't forget to review any of the passages you've memorized. It turns out that the scriptures don't stick with you so well if you don't take the time to go back over them often. This is particularly helpful if your memory retention has slackened over time.
- My favorite thing about it is that even if I don't have a physical person to recite my memory work to. I can test myself quickly and easily, without neglecting those verses that aren't necessarily in the front of my mind. Because you never know when you are going to need to access those verses that you first committed to memory nine months ago.
- Another helpful thing the site does is rank its users according to how many verses they have current. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, but for me it is motivation to continue committing the Bible to memory over time. I make a point of not worrying about my ranking, but it is fun to see that number getting smaller the more passages I work on.
You know what, if you have a student who has already mastered basic typing skills, I bet Scripture Typer would really help them build up their speed and accuracy. Since I've been typing for twenty years at this point, it may be too late for me to improve too terribly much, but for someone who is just starting out, I imagine this site would be a big help.
It's a pretty cool website, and I like it.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
I've been listening to the Civil Wars this afternoon on NoiseTrade. I know I'm already way behind the times, because everyone who listens to Americana has heard them already, but we already knew I was way behind the times. Wow! I haven't gotten to spend any time with the lyrics, or a decent pair of speakers (do we even own a decent pair of speakers anymore?) but those harmonies are really beautiful.
And I've recently come to enjoy listening to a live recording. Back in the day when I was still really listening to music, when it played in my room basically every hour that I was awake, the live recording technology wasn't very good. You could listen to a live recording but it wasn't particularly enjoyable. Apparently that has changed sometime in the past 10 years.
I have many years of missed listening to catch up on. By the way, I'm looking to relearn how to listen to music. I'd like to start listening more closely, and putting what I hear to work, if only for the sake of talking about something I love, i.e. music. It doesn't do a whole lot of good to say, "Oh, I like that," and leave it there. I'd like to relearn, or learn for the first time, which elements I respond to and for what reasons. Who's your favorite online music reviewer?
And I've recently come to enjoy listening to a live recording. Back in the day when I was still really listening to music, when it played in my room basically every hour that I was awake, the live recording technology wasn't very good. You could listen to a live recording but it wasn't particularly enjoyable. Apparently that has changed sometime in the past 10 years.
I have many years of missed listening to catch up on. By the way, I'm looking to relearn how to listen to music. I'd like to start listening more closely, and putting what I hear to work, if only for the sake of talking about something I love, i.e. music. It doesn't do a whole lot of good to say, "Oh, I like that," and leave it there. I'd like to relearn, or learn for the first time, which elements I respond to and for what reasons. Who's your favorite online music reviewer?
Checking In: The half-baked Apology they tell you never to make.
I can't believe anyone is still reading this. Although all of my registered pageviews could only be my mother checking in on me from a frozen country.
Sometime this week:
Why I love www.scripturetyper.com. It isn't for any of the reasons that they advertise. Still, its a terrifically useful site, but only if you want to memorize Bible verses. Which I recommend doing.
I am a writer. It's time I started acting like one.
Sometime this week:
Why I love www.scripturetyper.com. It isn't for any of the reasons that they advertise. Still, its a terrifically useful site, but only if you want to memorize Bible verses. Which I recommend doing.
I am a writer. It's time I started acting like one.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
I fumble, stumble, think of Emily Dickinson, don't even know how to spell her name. I have so many questions, but I haven't learned yet how to research, how to find answers. I'm thirty-five years old. Spent a year in graduate school. Was that not enough time to learn the secret of how to find answers to questions?
I am intrigued by this line from the chorus of one of Levi Weaver's songs:
"The answer looks an awful lot like another question."
My Dad is a scientist and a professor. He does a lot of research, and one of the things he says over and over again is that every question a scientist asks brings forth more questions than it does answers. Our idea is that the universe gets smaller in our estimation as we come to understand more and more of it, but reality doesn't conform to that expectation. The more we know, the more we realize we do not know. I've spoken of using media medicinally on Facebook. I feel like Levi sort of got into my head with this one.
There are a lot of questions and very few certainties, and I first noticed the words of the song on my way home from Walmart one day, which is an event which often requires a bit of psychical reorientation.
I am intrigued by this line from the chorus of one of Levi Weaver's songs:
"The answer looks an awful lot like another question."
My Dad is a scientist and a professor. He does a lot of research, and one of the things he says over and over again is that every question a scientist asks brings forth more questions than it does answers. Our idea is that the universe gets smaller in our estimation as we come to understand more and more of it, but reality doesn't conform to that expectation. The more we know, the more we realize we do not know. I've spoken of using media medicinally on Facebook. I feel like Levi sort of got into my head with this one.
There are a lot of questions and very few certainties, and I first noticed the words of the song on my way home from Walmart one day, which is an event which often requires a bit of psychical reorientation.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Kicking the Air Around My House
I am kicking (literally) the air around the house this morning, trying to avoid doing anything (not literally), but it's such a yucky day outside that, even though I've been up and out of bed since around 4:40 this morning, I have the chorus of this song running through my head.
By the way, most of the lyrics don't apply. But I like the song anyway.
Now that I think about it, today might be a good day to pile up in the bed with the children and read the entire text of The Hobbit aloud. Not that my children would stand for it. Or that my vocal cords could live up to it.
I myself have never read more than a few pages of The Hobbit.
Parker tells me that even though it is Spring Break, and everyone else in town is out of school, that he cannot go the the library because he has to go to school today. At the church. And when I asked him who his teacher would be, he said, "No teacher." He is the one who is going to teach.
See what my cutting back on Facebook will give you? A Morning Song and an adorable Parker anecdote.
By the way, most of the lyrics don't apply. But I like the song anyway.
Now that I think about it, today might be a good day to pile up in the bed with the children and read the entire text of The Hobbit aloud. Not that my children would stand for it. Or that my vocal cords could live up to it.
I myself have never read more than a few pages of The Hobbit.
Parker tells me that even though it is Spring Break, and everyone else in town is out of school, that he cannot go the the library because he has to go to school today. At the church. And when I asked him who his teacher would be, he said, "No teacher." He is the one who is going to teach.
See what my cutting back on Facebook will give you? A Morning Song and an adorable Parker anecdote.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Response in the form of bulleted lists: a flash of light in the dark?
My parents are in Sweden for the semester. You can follow their adventures at http://bishopssweden.blogspot.com/ You'll notice a certain similarity between their blog and mine.
My Dad has said that the key to blogging seems to be short posts with lots of bullet points and photos. Using this strategy he has been able to plan out many blog posts in advance, which of course is enabling him to blog very consistently.
And I'm so very, very text-based, you see.
But I'm intrigued by this idea about bullet points. I wouldn't use them in the same way that he is, though he uses them to good effect in terms of what he is doing. What I think I've realized is that bullet points might be a strategy I can use to organize my thought. Surely they are a useful tool for study.
For example, I read an article last week in a collection of essays written by Ursula K. LeGuin. The article was called "Indian Uncles," published in The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Reader, the Writer, and the Imagination. I think it's a really great book, by the way. Anyway, there were a couple of paragraphs in the essay that I really responded to, and I wanted desperately to say something about those to paragraphs, share them with you on a Saturday morning. I started writing, typed up the selection in question, and then was stymied, not knowing what to do next, how to proceed, how to make this brief commentary of mine into a complete and readable text. It does not good to quote someone at length without doing something with what they have said. This is a practice that has driven me away from reading certain other blogs.
That post remains in my drafts file. It may never be finished now. But what if I went back and looked at what it was I responded to? What if I made bullet pointed notes about what LeGuin was saying, and why it mattered to the context from which I was reading? What if I then responded myself, for myself in the form of bulleted notes? It's what I have been trying to do all along in my studies, but never have quite managed to. It is in essence what I do when I approach my current study of Leviticus every morning.
Responses to texts can be hard to come by. I value them. I desire them. I have a horrendous time trying to produce them.
Perhaps bulleted points could take place of the outline, because there is something in the idea of a formal outline that holds no practical appeal for me.
My blog isn't going to look like my Dad's blog. Not in its content. Not in its approach. Why? Because we aren't the same person, and we aren't trying to accomplish the same thing. That is okay.
Do you know this? Do you believe it?
I think that I am slowly and gropingly, haltingly making my way into those modes and approaches that will work specifically for me. Slowly, certainly slowly, progress is being made. And that is a good thing.
I haven't made a bulleted list yet, not in the way that I have envisioned for myself, but it is coming. I just have to let the idea germinate a little longer.
My Dad has said that the key to blogging seems to be short posts with lots of bullet points and photos. Using this strategy he has been able to plan out many blog posts in advance, which of course is enabling him to blog very consistently.
- Bullet points
- Lots of pictures
And I'm so very, very text-based, you see.
But I'm intrigued by this idea about bullet points. I wouldn't use them in the same way that he is, though he uses them to good effect in terms of what he is doing. What I think I've realized is that bullet points might be a strategy I can use to organize my thought. Surely they are a useful tool for study.
For example, I read an article last week in a collection of essays written by Ursula K. LeGuin. The article was called "Indian Uncles," published in The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Reader, the Writer, and the Imagination. I think it's a really great book, by the way. Anyway, there were a couple of paragraphs in the essay that I really responded to, and I wanted desperately to say something about those to paragraphs, share them with you on a Saturday morning. I started writing, typed up the selection in question, and then was stymied, not knowing what to do next, how to proceed, how to make this brief commentary of mine into a complete and readable text. It does not good to quote someone at length without doing something with what they have said. This is a practice that has driven me away from reading certain other blogs.
That post remains in my drafts file. It may never be finished now. But what if I went back and looked at what it was I responded to? What if I made bullet pointed notes about what LeGuin was saying, and why it mattered to the context from which I was reading? What if I then responded myself, for myself in the form of bulleted notes? It's what I have been trying to do all along in my studies, but never have quite managed to. It is in essence what I do when I approach my current study of Leviticus every morning.
Responses to texts can be hard to come by. I value them. I desire them. I have a horrendous time trying to produce them.
Perhaps bulleted points could take place of the outline, because there is something in the idea of a formal outline that holds no practical appeal for me.
My blog isn't going to look like my Dad's blog. Not in its content. Not in its approach. Why? Because we aren't the same person, and we aren't trying to accomplish the same thing. That is okay.
Do you know this? Do you believe it?
I think that I am slowly and gropingly, haltingly making my way into those modes and approaches that will work specifically for me. Slowly, certainly slowly, progress is being made. And that is a good thing.
I haven't made a bulleted list yet, not in the way that I have envisioned for myself, but it is coming. I just have to let the idea germinate a little longer.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Peterson's Annotated Bibliography: Take & Read
I've published a quick review of Eugene Peterson's book, Take & Read: Spiritual Reading: An Annotated List, on Goodreads.com. I also publish it here, below. I'm very anxious to read another book of his, Eat this Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading, but to do that it looks like I'm going to have to request another Interlibrary Loan from our public library. My review of Take & Read:
First of all, I love a book like this. What better way to learn about books that it might not otherwise occur to me to read than to get recommendation from a wide and careful reader, who also makes notes about the things he reads? I'm also developing an appreciation for Eugene Peterson, whose paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, while an excellent interpretation of scripture, hasn't always appealed to me as a reader because of its heavily personal style. It made me happy to see Peterson recommending some works that have meant a lot to me already, from authors you might not expect. I love that he sees certain non-Christian writings as worthy recipients of spiritually inflected reading. I also appreciate and approve his emphasis on theology that is lived, not merely thought.
I have some questions for Mr. Peterson, particularly concerning the intersections between scholarship and imagination, as he briefly describes his encounters with each extreme. I'd like to know more about the ways in which he has reconciled the two, since I have recently become very suspicious of imaginative interpretations that seem to exploit rather than carefully handle biblical texts. I expect he has written about this in some of his other books, which sets me on a quest to find out what he has had to say in his many writings.
Oh the thrill of finding more and more books to read and explore. Peterson even recommends certain mystery novels, which is exciting. He urges his readers to start compiling their own lists of books that have contributed to their own spiritual formation, a grand task that I look forward to embarking on, if only I could develop the discipline necessary to read and make notes with better intentionality.
First of all, I love a book like this. What better way to learn about books that it might not otherwise occur to me to read than to get recommendation from a wide and careful reader, who also makes notes about the things he reads? I'm also developing an appreciation for Eugene Peterson, whose paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, while an excellent interpretation of scripture, hasn't always appealed to me as a reader because of its heavily personal style. It made me happy to see Peterson recommending some works that have meant a lot to me already, from authors you might not expect. I love that he sees certain non-Christian writings as worthy recipients of spiritually inflected reading. I also appreciate and approve his emphasis on theology that is lived, not merely thought.
I have some questions for Mr. Peterson, particularly concerning the intersections between scholarship and imagination, as he briefly describes his encounters with each extreme. I'd like to know more about the ways in which he has reconciled the two, since I have recently become very suspicious of imaginative interpretations that seem to exploit rather than carefully handle biblical texts. I expect he has written about this in some of his other books, which sets me on a quest to find out what he has had to say in his many writings.
Oh the thrill of finding more and more books to read and explore. Peterson even recommends certain mystery novels, which is exciting. He urges his readers to start compiling their own lists of books that have contributed to their own spiritual formation, a grand task that I look forward to embarking on, if only I could develop the discipline necessary to read and make notes with better intentionality.
Monday, February 27, 2012
As if we were having a real conversation
As if we were having a real conversation, and you cared about those things that were occupying me yesterday, all the little gossips concerning my own life.
I went for the eye exam on Friday. It was a totally new experience for me, and I found out only later that I was over half-an-hour late for my appointment. I discovered my lateness on my own, and I almost wish someone there had told me I was late, so I'd know whether it was noted in my file.
One thing you will learn about me is that I hate being late. Why? Because I hate the idea of inconveniencing anyone in this whole entire world. It is not my job to inconvenience you. It is my purpose to make things easier, not harder. It is my intention to treat you as though you were the most important person in the world. Why? Because you are. You, whoever you are, are the most important person in the world. To who?
I think you know the answer to that one.
I turn again to Psalm 139 (NASB):
But what God does is He refines you until you forget all about yourself. I haven't forgotten about myself yet. I wish I could. And this, the first few verses of Psalm 139, will be next on my list of verses to memorize.
Those glasses...He said I needed glasses only in the evenings, but I think I need them whenever I'm inside. He said I should wear them whenever they made me more comfortable. At church yesterday I kept thinking, "I need them now. This is one of those situations where I need them. I need them whenever I am talking to you, or listening, and these almost imperceptible dark shadows go leaping across the room." I never realized before how often my eyes were strained.
I have to wait for the call to get my glasses, and I wonder if, when I get them, I will realize that I've made a mistake, chosen the wrong frames. Will the discomfort of wearing the glasses outweigh the comfort of not straining my eyes. Which, will it turn out, causes the greatest headache?
And those appointments that I've been missing? I've started taking Ginko Biloba even though I mistrust vitamin supplements, hoping that I will regain some of that short-term memory I seem to be losing with age.
We are humbled every day by things we think we ought to be able to do on our own and without any help. We are crippled when we don't admit we need it. Help, that is. And I am encouraged by this...
And when I am distressed I think of all of creation groaning.
Good day today, for this shall be a day with friends, and there is work to do, but somehow and someway it will be done. And we are all in this together, though sometimes we may forget it. And so the day begins...and I love the beginning of each new day.
I went for the eye exam on Friday. It was a totally new experience for me, and I found out only later that I was over half-an-hour late for my appointment. I discovered my lateness on my own, and I almost wish someone there had told me I was late, so I'd know whether it was noted in my file.
One thing you will learn about me is that I hate being late. Why? Because I hate the idea of inconveniencing anyone in this whole entire world. It is not my job to inconvenience you. It is my purpose to make things easier, not harder. It is my intention to treat you as though you were the most important person in the world. Why? Because you are. You, whoever you are, are the most important person in the world. To who?
I think you know the answer to that one.
I turn again to Psalm 139 (NASB):
O LORD, Thou hast searched me and known me.
Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up;
Thou dost understand my thought from afar.
Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And art intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all.
Thou hast enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Thy hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
But what God does is He refines you until you forget all about yourself. I haven't forgotten about myself yet. I wish I could. And this, the first few verses of Psalm 139, will be next on my list of verses to memorize.
Those glasses...He said I needed glasses only in the evenings, but I think I need them whenever I'm inside. He said I should wear them whenever they made me more comfortable. At church yesterday I kept thinking, "I need them now. This is one of those situations where I need them. I need them whenever I am talking to you, or listening, and these almost imperceptible dark shadows go leaping across the room." I never realized before how often my eyes were strained.
I have to wait for the call to get my glasses, and I wonder if, when I get them, I will realize that I've made a mistake, chosen the wrong frames. Will the discomfort of wearing the glasses outweigh the comfort of not straining my eyes. Which, will it turn out, causes the greatest headache?
And those appointments that I've been missing? I've started taking Ginko Biloba even though I mistrust vitamin supplements, hoping that I will regain some of that short-term memory I seem to be losing with age.
We are humbled every day by things we think we ought to be able to do on our own and without any help. We are crippled when we don't admit we need it. Help, that is. And I am encouraged by this...
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. II Corinthians 4:16-17
And when I am distressed I think of all of creation groaning.
Good day today, for this shall be a day with friends, and there is work to do, but somehow and someway it will be done. And we are all in this together, though sometimes we may forget it. And so the day begins...and I love the beginning of each new day.
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