Garage Saling is Oh, So Profitable

Recent purchases:

The Lord Peter Wimsey Cookbook--recipes based upon meals eaten in the book series. (An early birthday present from my mother.) (hardback)

The Instant Ethnic Foods Cookbook--recipes for herb & spice mixes from various culinary families: Greek, Italian, French, etc.

The Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck (hardback)

The Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff (hardback)

The Viking Book of Poetry of the English-Speaking World, in two volumes (hardback)

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten boom, with John and Elizabeth Sherrill (hardback)

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury--an excellent and intriguing modern author- my favourite, if ever there was one.

And something that is not a book--a soft cheese strainer! On Monday, I will buy yoghurt and make cream cheese & whey. Then I will make salsa! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.... ;)

Wordsworth on Faith and Gratitude

I'm reading Q's On the Art of Writing today, hoping to finish it before I must give it back to the library on Monday. I came across this example of 'prosified verse' and the subject matter struck me--this is a call to be grateful and take God's gifts with faith, else they turn upon you and become burdens.

These times strike monied worldlings with dismay;
Ev'n rich men, brave by nature, taint the air
With words of apprehension and despair;
While tens of thousands, thinking on the affray,
Men unto whom sufficient for the day
And minds not stinted or untill'd are given,
Sound healthy children of the God of Heaven,
Are cheerful as the rising sun in May.
What do we gather hence but firmer faith
That every gift of noble origin
Is breath'd upon by Hope's perpetual breath;
That Virtue and the faculties within
Are vital; and that riches are akin
To fear, to change, to cowardice, and death?

Now, just take the meat and leave the bones: the last line makes one wonder if he really understands God's gifts, but look at the line that begins, "That Virtue.." and the section that begins, "Men unto whom...". Wordsworth praises those who are thankful for what they have, and exhorts men to follow their example. How interesting!



P.S. Also, the phrase "tens of thousands" coupled with "Sound healthy children of the God of Heaven" reminds me of Rebekah's marraige blessing from her sisters:
Our sister, may you become
thousands of ten thousands,
and may your offspring possess
the gates of those who hate them.

Odd, I know.

Cosset: to pamper.

Corset: An extremely tight undergarment, which some women have compared to instruments of torture.

--------------

When I awoke this morning, I was thinking to myself, 'Have you ever noticed that the words cosseted and corseted sound and look so similar, but they mean completely different things?'

Aesthetics & Writing

Greg Wilbur of Kingsmeadow Study Center writes this list of medieval aesthetic principles:

Order: tradition, following models
Craftsmanship: attention to detail; skill and learning; mastery of technique
Rooted: firm foundation in biblical truth and culture; rooted in faith and community
Inventive: creative; seeking new ways to express old and eternal truths
Anonymous: workers who created for God’s glory; the aim of the work is more important than who created it
Interdependence: communal; artists worked in community for the edification of the greater community
Spirit: worked within the framework of a Christian culture seeking to convey biblical and theological truth
Eternal: eternal truth more important than realism; stories out of time; timeless truth
http://kingsmeadow.com/wilburblog.html

He writes of art, but it occurs to me that this list applies also to writing (as well as every other part of life). I would appreciate having some guidelines for good writing; I never thought that was what I was learning from reading all of these classics. I suppose I never thought of it at all.

There are so many things to think of...where will I ever find the time?

Technopoly

I've been toting around Neil Postman's Technopoly for the past few weeks, and reading it here and there when I have nothing else to do. It's quite interesting. I've gotten to the third chapter- he's in the middle of an overview of our journey from a tool-using culture to a technopoly. Technopoly is a word which Postman coined, meaning a society in which technology reigns; in which tools control us instead of vice-versa. One of the most intriguing ideas he's written on so far is the concept of theology as the Queen of the Sciences, and how that way of thinking has changed so much and at the same time as the great technological advances of the past centuries. It seems that as man became more dependent on his inventions he became less aware of his dependence on his Creator. Here's an actual quote from chapter two:

Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo put in place the dynamite that would blow up the theology and metaphysics of the medieval world. Newton lit the fuse. In the ensuing explosion, Aristotle's animism was destroyed, along with almost everything else in his Physics. Scripture lost much of its authority. Theology, once the Queen of the Sciences, was now reduced to the status of Court Jester. (page 34)

What's actually happened is that Biblical theology has been replaced as Queen by television's theology; where we once controlled our use of tools with our theology, now our theology is controlled by our tools, which also control us. I don't mean subliminal messaging, although billboards, commercials, and magazines are quite good at that sort of thing; I mean that we do not think Biblically any more. Theology provides a paradigm for thought about all of life, and instead of learning our theology from the Bible, we've been learning it from television. Instead of learning from the Master, we've been learning from the tools.

Just as Jesus is and must be the King (of everything), Biblical theology is and must be the Queen of the Sciences. If not, we lose our understanding of the fundamental way the world works, and we're just blind men leading other blind men. And we all know what happens when the blind lead the blind.

Horticultural Lessons

Go to this site and read the posts entitled "--- Horticulture". There are five, I believe, and they are either very funny or very sad.

I've been reading...

...a book that isn't on the list of Most Important Books to Read First Before Any Others So Don't Even Think About That One Over There!

It is called "Reformed" is Not Enough. It is excellent. Here is a quote for your enjoyment:

The Lord's Supper is first a memorial of Christ's self-sacrifice; secondly, a sealing of all the benefits of Christ's death unto true believers; third, a spiritual nourishment of all true believers who partake; fourth, a covenant renewal on the part of those who partake; fifth, a bond from Him of the fact that He is our God and we are His people; and sixth, it is communion with our fellow believers, fellow members of the body of Christ.

Page 110

Do you know where the author gets this information? Yes. It was gleaned from the Westminster Confession of Faith. I, for one, had no idea that there was anything that good in it. O, me of little faith in the Divines! I repent in dust and ashes. Off I go to read the Confession...

I was going to post something here, but it turned out to be inappropriate for public consumption. So, I'll leave you with this: God's glory is still a good reason to do things.

A Sonnet, being the twenty-sixth, by Wm. Shakespeare

Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceit of thine
In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it:
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving,
Points on me graciously with fair aspect,
And puts apparel on my tattered loving,
To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:
Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
Till then, not show my head where thou mayst prove me.