Poetic Speed Run: The Weekly Digest

 

Looking out the window....

 

 

Gray clouds and snow on the ground.  Yep, we're back to winter for a few days.

 

Favorite quote(s) of the week...

 

Grace is the best method of being restored. Divine love is the safest tonic for the weak patient. It makes the soul as strong as a giant, even when the bones are breaking through the skin. There is no physician like the Lord, no tonic like His promise, and no medicine like His love. - Charles Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook, p. 92.

 

When poetry has done its important work of revealing and describing the hidden hell we carry and perpetuate, it also has this power and privilege to cleanse and renew our vision, and set us on the right road again. - Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness, p. 90.

 

Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things. - Edgar Degas, quoted in Julia Cameron's The Artist Way, p. 174. 

Experts say that denying bad feelings intensifies them; acknowledging bad feelings allows good feelings to return. - Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, Chapter 4.

I'm thinking about...

I'm pondering over many subjects.  I can share a couple.

First, I'm pondering the poetic.  I'm rereading Malcolm Guite's The Word in the Wilderness.  This is an anthology of poems curated or written by Guite for the Lenten season.  I enjoyed my first reading of it six years ago, but only because Guite was kind enough to give clarifying commentary on each piece.  Even this rereading requires the explanatory notes for maximum enjoyment.  Like my struggles with history, I find poetry another weak academic subject for me.  A friend of mine who taught middle school English gave me a few pointers on how to read poetry according to the punctuation rather than where it rhymes.  That helped a lot.  Now, I'm hooked and want to read and know more.

Another thing I'm thinking about is my book collection.  It's been a while since I've paired down my unread volumes.  I still have shelf space for the selections I've read and want to keep, but my "to read" shelves are getting a little full.  In the past couple of years I've been given a lot of books (and yes, I've bought a few too).  I thinking about doing a couple of first chapter speed runs where I go through a stack of books and read the first chapter to see if the writing and/or subject matter pique my interest at all.  If so, they go back on the shelf.  If not, they go to the thrift store or a little free library for others to enjoy.  Yes, I know the nerdy solution would be to buy more bookshelves, but I don't have room for any more.  Trust me, when I have my own house, there will be plenty of bookshelves.

What I've read since the last digest...

• On Loving God by St. Bernard of Clairvaux ✮✮✮ 1/2
• Learning Humility by Richard J. Foster ✮✮
• The Power of Preaching by Tony Evans ✮✮✮ 1/2
• Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr. ✮✮✮ 1/2   (a glorious reread) 
  
• As You Wish by Cary Elwes ✮✮✮✮ (a glorious reread)
• Words of Cheer for Daily Life by Charles Spurgeon ✮ 
• The Peacemaker by Ken Sande ✮✮ (a reread: it wasn't so "glorious" this time around) 
  

I'm currently reading...

• Pauses for Lent by Trevor Hudson
• Word in the Wilderness by Malcolm Guite
• Faith's Checkbook by Charles Spurgeon
  
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
  
• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
•  Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster
• The New American Standard Bible
  

Recent blog posts...

• My previous digest, "Roasting Marshmallows" is here.
  
• Pansies and Mollycoddling:  The Weekly Hodgepodge is here.
  
• First Line Friday #32: Hollowed Out by Jeremy S. Adams is here. 
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here. (Updated regularly)
• My "I Can Only Blame MyShelf" reading challenge is here.  (Updated regularly).
  

I am thankful for...

• Crows - the Van Halen of songbirds.
  
• Therapists who listen. 
• Farts that relieve pain.
• The joyful privilege of being able to take a shower whenever I want.
• Moisturizer in all its forms.
• The good news of the gospel of Christ.
• Stupid questions that God gladly puts up with.
• Coworkers who are willing to chip in to get a project finished.
• Chalk paint.
• An old faithful paintbrush that lasted for one more project.
• Oatmeal.
• Colorado's fake springs.
• Friends who encourage my art.
• The life of Donna Jordan. 
  

 

 

 

 

First Line Friday #33: Streams of Living Water by Richard J. Foster

Thanks to Carrie at
Reading is My Superpower
for the Link-up

 

 

Title:  Streams of Living Water
Author:  Richard J. Foster
Genre:  Religion/Spirituality

  〰First Line〰

─────────────────────────────────────────────────

As Jesus walked the earth, living and working among all kinds and classes of people, he gave us the divine paradigm for conjugating all the verbs of our living.
  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────

Synopsis:  (From Goodreads) 

The author of the bestselling Celebration of Discipline explores the great traditions of Christian spirituality and their role in spiritual renewal today. In this landmark work, Foster examines the "streams of living water" –– the six dimensions of faith and practice that define Christian tradition. He lifts up the enduring character of each tradition and shows how a variety of practices, from individual study and retreat to disciplines of service and community, are all essential elements of growth and maturity. Foster examines the unique contributions of each of these traditions and offers as examples the inspiring stories of faithful people whose lives defined each of these "streams."

   〰First Thoughts〰

This volume is the second of three books that are part of our undergraduate level Spiritual Formation class at the university.  I was offered and accepted a contract, so I will be teaching the course this summer.  Like the previous volume I mentioned, my goals for this book are not purely academic.  While many mistakenly believe that Jesus was against all tradition, the author's application of spiritual traditions do not seem to be presented as Jesus described as those that "...cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition..." (Mark 7:13, NLT). 

Unfortunately, I've taught many students who were anti tradition, anti corporate worship, and who thought they could facilitate their own spiritual growth in isolation.  Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.  Along with the academic requirements of studying this work, I am hopeful that my students will see the benefits of applying the content to dispel these myths.

One worry I do have about the book is that it will be a retooling of Foster's famous work Celebration of Discipline.  Hopefully, the author has done more research and is much more savvy than that.

So, what's the first line of the book you're currently reading?

Pansies and Mollycoddling: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

Many of our earliest presidents created words or expressions widely used today. Teddy Roosevelt is credited with mollycoddle, pack rat, frazzle, and loose cannon...which of those words/phrases currently relates to your life in some way? 

I think mollycoddle may fit the bill.  Mollycoddle also aligns with the concept of entitlement.  I just signed my summer teaching contract.  I'm teaching a course I've never facilitated before, so I hope this cuts down on my dealing with adult students who aren't ready to "adult" yet.  Don't get me wrong, 90% of my students are adults who know how to communicate and who work hard at their coursework.  It's the 10% who drive me to eat sometimes. 

Have you visited many (or any) of the US Presidents homes, monuments, libraries or related sites? If so what's been your favorite? Are there any you particularly want to see? Here's a link to presidential sites listed by state which is kind of fun to read-Presidential Places by State. And since several bloggers who participate in the HP each week live outside the US, here's a link to Presidential Places Outside the US. Have you seen any of those? 

When I was a senior in high school, our marching band did a whirlwind tour of Washington DC and Arlington, VA.  These are some of the things we saw.  Remember, these photos were taken 35 years ago with a disposable camera...

The Jefferson memorial from the bus window as we drove by. 

President Kennedy's eternal flame in Arlington, VA.

The Lincoln Memorial

Mount Vernon (president Washington's home).

 

The Washington Memorial

Honestly, this tour, that also included the White House (complete with us playing a concert on the steps of the Capitol), the Treasury Department, the National Mall, and parts of the Smithsonian, went by so fast that I barely remember any of it.  If the opportunity arises, I would so enjoy going back and taking my time to really absorb the sites, not to mention take better pictures.

February 20th is National Cherry Pie Day...will you celebrate? Given your choice of cherry pie, cherry cobbler, cheesecake with a cherry topping, or black forest cake which would you choose? 

No, I don't think I'll celebrate this round.  However, my choice of dish would be cheesecake with cherry topping.

Last time you worked a puzzle of some kind? Something that had you puzzled recently? 

I blogged about my last puzzle experience here in the "I'm thinking about" section.  For those of you who like doing puzzles, what do you think of my questions?

I've got so many situations right now that I'm puzzling over that I'd need many more blog posts to discuss them.

Of the early blooming flowers (January-early March depending on your zone) which one's your favorite? snowdrops, lenten roses, pansies, violets, snapdragons, reticulated iris, crocus, winter jasmine Do you have any of these in your own yard/garden? 

Many of these were unfamiliar to me.  My favorite out of the list is pansies.  However, my experience with pansies is that they are late fall through early summer flowers...at least in Alabama anyway.  They are not heat tolerant, so watering them with ice water made them last longer.  I had planned to buy pansies for my containers last fall, but they were sold out by the time I was ready to plant them.  I'll try again this fall to see how they fare in Colorado.

Until then, here's a watercolor of pansies I painted more than a decade ago.  Hmm...maybe I need to paint some more pansies.

Insert your own random thought here. 

In case you missed it:  

• My previous Hodgepodge post "Scraps and Such 03" is here.
• My latest Weekly Digest "Roasting Marshmallows" is here.
  
• My latest First Line Friday post: #32:  Hollowed Out by Jeremy S. Adams is here. 
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here.  (Updated regularly)
• My "2025 I Can Only Blame MyShelf Reading Challenge" is here. (Updated regularly)