1. I have been thinking long about Willard’s statement, “Everything that exists outside of the human realm automatically expresses the kingdom of God.” Maybe this is why we so often crave the purity and quiet of the woods and standing at the edge of the sea. The rocks cry out. The trees clap their hands. And the waves of the sea never stop their endless worship in rhythm. Sometimes when the hardness of life takes over inside, I want to get outside of the human realm as much as I can. I think we were created for this. And maybe it’s why Jesus, the King, so often withdrew to a desolate place.
2. My fifth grade son had “neologism” as a vocabulary word and now I have seen this word three times in my own reading since, silencing my complaints.
3. Seamus Heaney only had the equivalent of a BA, which is more than myself and less too.
4. Another quote from Willard I cannot get out of head – “Most are more afraid of obedience than disobedience.”
5. One day we will experience a rest that does not cause anxiety about what needs to be done next.
6. Maybe, we as a culture will rediscover simple pleasures.
7. I am proud of my kids. But yesterday, my youngest came from a school trip after being gone a couple of days. And one of his first bits of information about the three day trip was an exclamation about breakfast and the bacon he ate. My heart swelled. As well as my arteries.
8. When hard times come,
I miss my parents,
and am glad
they are not around to see them,
knowing they are glimpsing un-obscured glories,
day in and day out if there are any days at all in that sunlit land.
9. I miss the baseball season that has not yet started late.
10. For months I have been reciting from memory Col. 3:1-17. Those words have gotten in me. And now I cannot think of the fears surrounding us in light of these verses. Especially the beginning. “For you have died and your life is hid with Christ in God.” We have died already. We can no longer die. Or be killed. Even more, my friends, we have been raised.
Echoes and Stars 