My new definition of love: to devote oneself to the good, wellbeing, or flourishing of and the enjoyment of relationship with.

Telling someone they “have been” something is more empowering a way of truth-telling than telling them they “are” something. It leaves the future open for change.

glade noun : 1 : an open space surrounded by woods

I looked this one up because I love words for landforms and vegetation and encountered this one in MacDonald’s Phantastes. It is often confused these days with glen, which is a steep creek canyon-drop.

sward noun : 1 : a portion of ground covered with grass 2 : the grassy surface of land

I looked this one up because I love words for landforms and vegetation and encountered this one in MacDonald’s Phantastes.

Before opening my mouth I always ask “Is what I’m about to say edifying?”

To which my brain answers, “One way to find out.”

— “Failing Pastor”

[overheard while Sullivan and Éa build a precarious fort]:

Éa: Sully, did you just swear!?
Sullivan: What!? No!
Éa: No really, Sully, did you say the S word?
Sullivan: No! Only Mom does that!

Carla reports that last night, out of the blue before bed, Éa said, “I think that Daddy’s mune to stuff.”

“You think he’s immune? To what?” replied Carla.

“No, the opposite of that. Mune.”

“I don’t think that’s a word.”

“Really? Well then what’s the opposite of ‘immune’?”

“Susceptible.”

“What?! That sounds like some sort of a….PORT a potty! …like ‘appropriate receptacle’! (lots of laughter by both parties)”

Oh my gosh. Jesus.

— Carla

“Emotional support feels terrible.”

— Carla

• “But now it seems that good is not the same in all worlds; that Maleldil has forbidden in one what He allows in another“ (Tinidril).
• “…the vast astronomical distances which are God’s quarantine regulations…”
• “Ransom felt himself more and more in the presence of a monomaniac.”
• “The fatal touch of invited grandeur, of enjoyed pathos—the assumption, however slight, of a rôle—seemed a hateful vulgarity“ ( of Tinidril under the influence of the Un-man).
• “Not for the first time he found himself questioning Divine Justice. He could not understand why Maleldil should remain absent when the Enemy was there in person.”
• “He writhed and ground his teeth, but could not help seeing. Thus, and not otherwise, the world was made. Either something or nothing must depend on individual choices. And if something, who could set bounds to it?
• “Then came blessed relief. He suddenly realised that he did not know what he could do. He almost laughed with joy. All this horror had been premature. No definite task was before him. All that was being demanded of him was a general and preliminary resolution to oppose the Enemy in any mode which circumstances might show to be desirable: in fact—and he flew back to the comforting words as a child flies back to its mother’s arms—‘to do his best’—or rather, to go on doing his best, for he had really been doing it all along. ‘What bug-bears we make of things unnecessarily!’ he murmured, settling himself in a slightly more comfortable position. A mild floor of what appeared to him to be cheerful and rational piety rose and engulfed him” (of Ransom contemplating his mission against the Unman).
• “‘Other things, other blessings, other glories,’” he murmured. “‘But never that. Never in all worlds, that. God can make good use of all that happens. But the loss is real.’”
• “The joy came from finding at last what hatred was made for. As a boy with an axe rejoices on finding a tree, or a boy with a box of coloured chalks rejoices on finding a pile of perfectly white paper, so he rejoiced in the perfect congruity between his emotion and its object“ (of Ransom against the Unman).
• “I know now what they say in your world about justice. And perhaps they say well, for in that world things always fall below justice. But Maleldil always goes above it. All is gift. I am Oyarsa not by His gift alone but by our foster mother’s, not by hers alone but by yours, not by yours alone but my wife’s—nay, in some sort, by gift of the very beasts and birds. Through many hands, enriched with many different kinds of love and labour, the gift comes to me. It is the Law. The best fruits are plucked for each by some hand that is not his own” (Tor).

— C.S. Lewis, of Ransom against the Un-man • Perelandra

No comment on the above. I just like them.

“At least,” he added in a louder voice, “this forbidding is no hardship in such a world as yours“ (Ransom).

I am struck that the more one sees the goodness that surrounds us, the less the rules about the same world in which that goodness resides seems hard. The more we see life as a gift, the less likely to we are to complain about what we ought to avoid. Why would I engage in some pleasure that harms myself or others when there are ample pleasures I can engage in that do neither?

“That also is a strange thing to say,” replied the Lady. “Who thought of its being hard? The beasts would not think it hard if I told them to walk on their heads. It would become their delight to walk on their heads. I am His beast, and all His biddings are joys.”

There is, of course, danger in the Divine Command Theory of ethics, for sure. But given the touchstone of the crucified Jesus, this is an excellent perspective.

“You ask me to believe that you have been living here with that woman under these conditions in a state of sexless innocence?“ (Weston)

I think of our society’s obsession with sex.

“That would be a strange thing—to think about what will never happen” (Tinidril).

Why bother even thinking about that which will not happen? It is how I wish to approach everything I have decided against doing.

She had no notion of how to glance rapidly from one face to another or two disentangle two remarks at once. Sometimes she listened wholly to Ransom, sometimes wholly to the other, but never to both.

Me!

[D]eep within, when every veil had been pierced, was there, after all, nothing but a black puerility, an aimless empty spitefulness content to sate itself with the tiniest cruelties, as love does not disdain the smallest kindness?

This is how I view temptation.

“I think He made one law of that kind in order that there might be obedience. In all these other matters what you call obeying Him is by doing what seems good in your own eyes also. Is love content with that? You do them, indeed, because they are His well, but not only because they are His will. Where can you taste the joy of obeying unless He bids you do something for which his bidding is the only reason? When we spoke last you said that if you told the beasts to walk on their heads, they would delight to do so. So I know that you understand well what I am saying“ (Ransom).

A fine stab at making sense of the command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

It’s time to reverse the connotative polarity of “parochial”: It’s a good thing, not a bad thing.

“We cannot be too careful about the words we use. We start out using them, and they end up using us.”

– Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

“To get” has replaced all instances of “to give” at Christmastime:

• “I’m going to get Sullivan a mortar and pestle” instead of “I’m going to give Sullivan…”
• “I hope I get a Wii” instead of “I hope I receive a Wii” or “I hope someone gives me a Wii.”

The change has removed all generosity from the concept of gifts. Strange.

love noun 1 fondness and esteem that leads one to act toward the good of and the enjoyment of relationship with

Perhaps we could call secular Christmas “Wintercheer.”

love verb 1 to esteem someone or something as to be gladly willing to donate of one’s self (e.g., attention, energy, time, material resources, money) for the their good 2 to esteem someone or something as to prioritize their needs

“May we” is a way to say prayer, blessing, and exhortation all rolled into one.

“Think thoughts that are as clear as possible, but no clearer; say things as simply as possible, but no simpler.”

— William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

After an evening with Ben for the Roomful of Teeth concert at Schwab Auditorium, a lunchtime with Ernest yesterday, and a long campus walk with Mark last night, I reported to the Rookes that Carla says I abuse introverts. I hope it’s not true. Lord, may I be slow to speak.

It may help in interpreting Jesus’ parables to picture Him saying them to people, or perhaps to picture yourself saying them to people. That clarified the Parable of the Wedding Feast for me today.

You want to know what I’m grateful for? I’m grateful that I knew just what to do in the face of anxiety-ridden sleeplessness that plagued my eleven- and twelve-o’clock hours: Drink a cup of chamomile tea, give thanks, and sleep in the guest bedroom. I was downright cheery last night as I went to sleep.

You want to know what else I’m grateful for: The present richness of the “little words” I received last year from You, God, to help me through this mind-crippling doubt. Transcendence was risibly thick with metaphor for You, and the realization about my inner skeptic is the H.L. Hunley is very helpful.

This morning I woke up with the words “dipolar theism” in my head. Fascinating, but I’m not sure how to apply the knowledge, except to say I think You’re perfectly capable of all those opposing traits simultaneously. Oh, and I’ll search the text of Satan and the Problem of Evil to make sure I didn’t see it there.

love noun 1 Self-donation (e.g., of attention, energy, time, material resources, money) born of high regard for someone or something

love noun 1 Self-donation (e.g., of attention, energy, time, material resources, money) for the good of another, ideally driven by affection, and if not that, then by principled regard for others as at least as important as oneself

When we say “I love you” to someone, we mean that we desire to love them as above.

I think we could resolve some problems if we simply renamed the secular holiday, so that there’s the Christian holiday, “Christmas,” and the secular, gift-giving holiday, “Festivus”.

Many people say “humbled” when they mean “honored.”