A Pocketbook Full of Memories

As I'm cleaning around, I find a pocketbook I have not used in several months, but is nonetheless very full.

Here is what I found in my pocketbook:

• Scissors from kindergarden
• Pens and lanyards from conferences around the nation
• A couple of packets of sunflower seeds and some sugar in the raw
• My very first wallet and some packets of tea
• An old Pepsi cap I always meant to give my brother
• A coin pouch bought from a Filipino woman at a concert
• A piece of candy from a child
• Some gift cards I've saved for crafts and a piece of cement I picked up at some beach
• Bracelets and necklaces made by my sister and I
• Old receipts and bookmarks and theater tickets
• Hebrew vocabulary cards
• LOTS of highlighters and pencils
• A fork from who knows when
• A sewing kit, guitar pick, and a barnacled sea snail shell
• Band-aides, antibiotic, and more besides
• And a handful of crayons

Yes, it's a pocketbook full of memories.

picture credit

What Christmas is All About

"And how did little Tim behave [in church]?" asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content.

"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see [Jesus]."


Then Bob proposed:
"A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!

Which all the family re-echoed.

"God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim, the last of all.


--Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (London: Chapman & Hall, 1843), 91, 95.


original image source

This post does contain affiliate links; thank you for your support.

This World is Not Conclusion...

Not many churches have graveyards anymore, and that is a shame. This book [Theology for the Church], like all systematic theology texts, will one day wither away into mold and dust. The library of Congress will be swept away like refuse. If one really wants to see a theology for the church in action, one might walk into an old church graveyard at night. Walk about and see the headstones weathered and ground down by the elements. Contemplate the fact that beneath your feet are men and women who once had youthful skin and quick steps and hectic calendars but who are now piles of forgotten bones. Think about the fact that the scattered teeth in the earth below you once sang hymns of hope -- maybe "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder I'll Be There" or "When We All Get to Heaven." They are silent now.

But while you are there, think about what every generation of Christians has held against the threat of sword and guillotine and chemical weaponry. This stillness will one day be interrupted by a shout from the eastern sky, a joyful call with a distinctly northern Galilean accent. And that's when life really gets interesting.

Russell D. Moore, "Personal and Cosmic Eschatology," in A Theology for the Church, ed. Daniel L. Akin (B&H Publishing: Nashville, 2007), 926.

original image source 

This post does contain affiliate links; thank you for your support!

And I am Appalled

I was talking to a friend who worked at a Colonial House over the summer. She informed me of an astonishing fact: most of the children who came through the house had no idea what a fireplace was for, that clothes and food can (and sometimes usually) come from animals, and did not even know who George Washington was.

My first reaction was precisely like that of Professor Digory in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie: "What do they teach kids in schools these days?"

I just have no concept of people not knowing what I consider to be elementary and common knowledge facts. What is the world coming to?

On a bright note, she said that you could tell who was homeschooled - because they actually knew these things and were respectful. It's nice to know that at least entire generations aren't losing basic knowledge. I have a lot of respect for those who homeschool, and, with the wonderful results of home education, it makes me wonder why it isn't promoted very much, and why more people do not partake of it!

original image source

This post does contain affiliate links. This means, at no additional cost to you, I may receive commission for referring business. Thank you for your support!

"What an Exciting Life We Live"

Tonight I was spending time with my family, and my mother calls downstairs, "Girls, I need you to come up here so we can go through these socks" (she had just purchased them for all of us). My brother, over hearing this, remarks "what an exciting life we live!" Of course, he was being facetious. But really, think about it, shouldn't the "little" things in life be exciting? After all, there are many, many, many people in the world who would just love to own ONE pair of socks, how much more be recipients of some absolutely new socks!

And isn't it the "little" moments of which life is made? After all, "What is the end of fame?/ 'tis but to fill a certain portion of uncertain paper..." (Lord Byron, Don Juan). So take in the little moments, the insignificant, the ones you pass right by, for in the end they are what define your life. And that is exciting.

picture credit

This post does contain affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I may receive commission for referring business. Thank you for your support!

Mr. Holland's Opus (Movie Review)

Mr. Holland's Opus was a touching movie, albeit hard to watch in places, but it contained an encouraging message that I appreciated. A word of warning: this movie is rated PG for mild language. Personally, I'd give it a PG-13 for the language as it is not appropriate for children. The story is one that I think could be very powerful in a child's life, but please use a bleeper if you show it to children. Even though there are some factual errors relating to chronology of events, I liked the way the movie was put together placing historical events within a (generally) accurate context and showing how those events effected people. While this is not a movie I plan to see often, it was enjoyable and I am glad that I have seen it.

2 out of 5 stars.

This post does contain affiliate links; thank you for your support.

Blank Slate