1.31.2008

And so it begins.

I counted it up and i have 150 pages of intense reading for friday, 3 case briefs, and two quizzes to study for. I can't complain though, i'm sure i'm going to LOVE all my classes.

Family, i miss you. Thanks for everything while i was home.

Alright, well, now i'm going to hit the ground running, hit the books, hit up the DC, hit the road, and then hit the sack.

Haha. Hit. What a funny metaphor.

1.19.2008

If i ever write a dissertation...(doubtful)

...I will discuss paradox and oxymoron as the essence of the christian faith.

{To find your life, lose it}

{Purity means God ravishing us with His love, forcing His love upon us}


{Freedom is being captured by God's love}
{The humbled are exalted}

{When I am weak, then I am strong}

{Brokenness is essential in becoming whole}
{Good is terrible}

{A mature Christian is like a child}


As one who thinks logic should lead us right to Christ and His gospel, often to the extent that all mystery and wonder is abolished, sometimes i have to reconsider these ideas to keep myself in check. I don't serve a God who operates by our logic systems. This is not to say that analytical thought wouldn't lead to my Savior, but it is to say that there is so much more beauty to be had when we reflect on how our Savior has redeemed the fall, beauty that doesn't seem logically possible. It would seem that things were infinitely better before the fall, however, without their opposites, perhaps there wouldn't be such great opportunities for good, for strength, life, etc. Just one more example of why I didn't create the world.

1.15.2008

A busy calm.

That describes my J. Term. Basically, there's nothing I have to do besides attend my basketball, volleyball, and leadership classes. Simp sauce.

That being said, while there is not much I'm required to do, i feel like decreased productivity would be quite a waste of time.

So, among other things, i read. Previously I had said that the jury was still out on whether or not i liked "til we have faces" by C.S. Lewis. The jury came to a unanimous decision. I love it. And the beautiful thing is, I love it because I am letting it work on me. I can't read myself and what i want to think of it into it. I'm letting the art do its work. And its working.

For those unfamiliar with the book, C.S. Lewis retells the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. The focus is on Psyche's older sister. The whole book she is trying to figure out the truth concerning the Gods and the reasons behind the various pains she and her sister have felt. (that was a very, very, rough description of the book.) It culminates in this paragraph:

"The complaint was the answer. To have heard myself making it was to be answered. Lightly men talk of saying what they mean. Often when he was teaching me to write in Greek the Fox would say, 'Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than than what you really mean; that's the whole art and joy of words.' A glib saying. When the time comes to you at which you will be foreced at last to utter speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"

I have two things to say about this. First, an embarrassing statement. This passage is near the end of the book, and at the point of which i speak, I had not yet highlighted a single thing--which meant that nothing was going to be written in my quote book. So, when i got to this passage, i was so very excited by what the Fox had said...i highlighted it. then, BOOM. "A glib saying." It hit me really quickly that i had been reading the book for glib sayings. Reading it to have a neat little paragraph to write down as the whole of how the book affected me. Perhaps the book was intentionally filled with mere story because any addition of these kinds of sayings would have drawn away from the purpose of the book. Sometimes packaged quotes just aren't enough. The point is that Orual (the main character, and narrator), works for her whole life to utter one simple, coherent complaint to the gods. We can't live our lives uttering these phrases, they are meaningless without the experience. They can't be really understood by merely hearing them. There is an indescribable understanding that must come through more than just the spoken word. The impact is in the implications.

Secondly, I'm still mulling over the idea of "till we have faces" as a phrase. I could think about it for hours. Especially considering the fact that Orual's face is veiled for a majority of the book. I'm reading it again. starting today. I love this; I've never felt a real need to read a piece of art more than once, save "A severe mercy" by sheldon vanauken.

Also, i finished Through Painted Deserts and picked up the last of Donald Miller's 3 books "Searching for God knows What". I'll read that too, i figure authors all have something to say, and thus far its taken him 3 books to say that, so it would be wrong to leave out one of them if i'm really trying to understand where he is coming from.
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Enough about books.

Alex came to visit me and we had a marvelous time, as always. The girls on my wing loved her, and want her to come to Taylor. Don't i wish.^^^representing each other's schools. love it.

Anyway, life is grand. I live in the Student Activities Center (ksac). My intramural volleyball team is undefeated. I'm going for a threepeat in intramural championships for this year. That would be prime.

Anyway, love to all. And dearest gracie, please get well soon. I love you and I'm praying for you!

1.04.2008

Crossin them off the list.

Through Painted Deserts by:Donald Miller.

Done. Boom.
I was feelin the poetry tonight..so Eliot was my companion.

if you aren't my mom, you don't need to read below this line.
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Dear Mom,
Please send me my box. We girls want to play "whats a dame to do"...thus....we need the box.

i love you,
your daughter.

1.02.2008

wow.

i just realized how fitting the previous post was as a first post of the new year.

i resolve not to kill time. Its crazy that it was 8 YEARS AGO that we had the whole Y2K scare. I feel like it was yesterday..perhaps because i have killed quite a bit of time in between then and now.

Time Killers

Talked with someone today. The phrase "killing time" came up. Interesting metaphor.

Violent.
Results in death.
Rather sad implications.

I can't think of any situation in which killing is good...ok maybe "killing an addiction"..but no one really says that.

Why kill time? What did time do to you?



i just re-read this post and realized that it sounds like i would condone time killing if time were guilty of some kind of cruelty. However, i do not and will not promote the killing of time whether time provoked this hatred or not. Even if time has been quite unfortunately cruel to you, even if time is the instigator of the trials in your relationship, don't kill time. Its still a rather heartless thing to do. Live and let live.