Gaining a heart of wisdom
When my thrifty mother-in-law made mincemeat, she would start with the venison roast from a deer who may have had the audacity to nibble on her tulip leaves. From there, she would improvise, adding whatever needed using up on that particular day: a batch of jam that didn’t “set up” just right or an over-abundance… Continue reading Start Where I Am. Use What I Have.
For years I celebrated Easter as if it were a stand-alone holiday, singing "Up from the Grave He Arose" without giving much thought to the horror of the Dying or the silence of the Dead. Providentially, my early efforts to incarnate and to enliven an invisible God in the hearts of four sweet boys found a way into the obtuse heart of… Continue reading One Weekend in History – For Ruby Magazine
Before children and homeschooling, I worked as a compensation analyst in a large hospital, so whenever a manager wanted to change a position or to reorganize a department, it was my job to look at the changes in relation to their impact on the incumbents' compensation. Are the additional duties essentially the same kind of… Continue reading Writing Her Way into Truth: Till We Have Faces (9)
It's nearly time. Even two weeks ago, standing thigh-deep in snow beside the bush, I could see that the buds had begun to swell large, and so it won't be long until I lop off some of the bush's waywardness and then arrange the bare branches in a vase of water. I will begin watching… Continue reading The Radical Simplicity of Looking Up
What February lacks in length, it has more than offset with depth -- of SNOW and MUD! No sooner do we shovel our way through two feet of fluffy beauty, than the sun comes out and melts it all, turning the world into chocolate pudding! It's almost as if God is telling us to slow… Continue reading February Musings — 2017
Today we come to the end of Part I! With only four chapters remaining in Part II, I'm amazed at how quickly the time for this discussion group has flown! Plot Summary Queen Orual has plowed into her new role with gusto, handily defeating Prince Argan with her sword, celebrating her victory as a lone… Continue reading Long Live the Queen! Till We Have Faces Discussion Group Week 8
I come from a tradition that is suspicious of written or scripted prayers, believing that spontaneity is a sign of sincerity and casting askance glances at those who must borrow the words of others in order to talk to God. Then I became a mother and realized that not only were my own words in… Continue reading A Mosaic of Images on Joy and Prayer
Welcome to Week 7 of our discussion of C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces! As we consider the events of Chapters 16-18, I'm looking forward to another opportunity to hear your insights into this unfolding drama. Plot Summary Once again, Orual creeps back into the palace unseen, but after this catastrophic encounter with Psyche, it… Continue reading A Veiled Life in the Sandy Waste: Till We Have Faces (7)
Apparently, in addition to all his better-known gifts, Thomas Jefferson was a gardener. His experimentation with horticulture added over five hundred new fruits and vegetables to the world, but he was never able to successfully cultivate a vineyard at Monticello, his beloved Virginia home. Here's why: the French varieties of grapes he coveted had no… Continue reading Finding Rest in Humility
Readers here at Living Our Days are working our way through Till We Have Faces, one of C.S. Lewis's lesser known books, but the one which he claimed as his favorite of all the books he wrote. Chapters 13-15 feature the key scene of Lewis's tale and perhaps the best-known and most-quoted section of the book. Thanks… Continue reading Till We Have Faces (6): The Demands of a Ravenous Love
