The Twizzler

Helen wrote this quote in my “quote journal” back years ago when we both read The Book of God, by Walter Wangerin Jr.

Achan knew the names of his blood-kin.  They were the names of his identity.  Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.

Achan was not one.  He was many.  The children of Israel, they were one, and little Achan was a part of that.

I hardly remember this book, to be honest.  Phantastes, by George MacDonald.  Is that his fairy tale for adults?  I remember I enjoyed it, for what that’s worth!  My journal where I jotted down this quote shows I read it in 1999.  It’s high on my list of books to re-read after the kids are in university.

But the quote is good, so here it is.

I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being beloved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness.

Larry Boy!

I AM THAT HERO!

So, this weekend Nate was washing up his bike and putting on some new brakes.  He happened to break a spoke or something, and needed to take it in to the shop to get it fixed.  (He doesn’t have tools for everything, after all!)  The shop was already closed for the day.  So do you think he’d take the bus to work on Monday and then take his bike in that evening?  No.  Do you think he’d take his second bike in to work and then drive the broken wheel in that evening?  No.  Oh No. 

He attached the broken wheel to the second bike so he could still bike to work, and take in the broken one at the first possible moment without bothering to come home and get the car.  Now that is dedication!  This is the future of transportation!  Nate is ready for it. 

We signed up for two weeks of swimming lessons, and the first week was wonderful, then the second week was raining, overcast and cold all except for Friday.  Being the wimp that I am, I didn’t even take the kids on the cold days, it just didn’t seem right to force them to go in the water when it was only 11 degrees outside and raining!  (That’s 52 F. ) 

They enjoyed themselves when they went and even learned something.  It just reminds me that in Calgary, swimming is really a winter sport! 

It is nearly impossible to blog some quotes from Godric, by Frederick Buechner, without contravening the copyright act.  There is no word from the novel that could be left out.  It is a poem, a song, though written in prose.  While reading it I soar through my day feeling like I am thinking in verse.

Godric is the story of an earthy sinful man who yet (or as a result?) shows the beauty and love of God.

It captivated me at the very first line:

Five friends I had, and two of them snakes.

~

And here are just a few more gems:

It’s the missing them now I miss.

~

What’s friendship, when all’s done, but the giving and taking of wounds?

~

Gentle Jesu, Mary’s son, be thine the wounds that heal our wounding.  Press thy bloody scars to ours that thy dear blood may flow in us and cleanse our sin.

Be thou in us and we in thee that Godric, Gillian, Ailrod, Mouse and thou may be a woundless one at last.  And even Reginald if thy great mercy reach so far.

In God’s name Godric prays.  Amen.

~

[My father’s] eyes were grey as the sea like mine, it’s said, only full of kindness, but what matter how kind a man’s eye be if he never fixes you with it long enough to learn?

~

So it was his fear we’d starve that made him starve us for that one of all things we hungered for the most, which was the man himself.

~

O thou who art the sparrow’s friend, have mercy on this world that knows not even when it sins.  Oh holy dove, descend and roost on Godric here so that a heart may hatch in him at last.  Amen.

~

So ever and again young Godric’s dreams well up to flood old Godric’s prayers, or prayers and dreams reach God in such a snarl he has to comb the tangle out, and who knows which he counts more dear.

~

We loved each other, Mouse and I, and our love was born of need, for so it always is with mortal folk.  God’s love’s all gift, for God has need of naught, but human folk love one another for the way they fill each other’s emptiness.

~

Like our prayers to God, the deepest prayers we humans ask of one another speak but silence for their tongue.

Two spiders at the local playground.

Nate here. I’m writing this on Helen’s iPhone using a (free) WordPress app.

Here’s a picture of Shana rock climbing a week or two ago. Next time, we’ll be able to blog it right from the event!