I wrote back during Season 1 of this fabulous series (are you watching it? Whyever not?) about how one scene made it so achingly clear how quickly time passes, with moments of utter joy being over in a . . . well, moment. Season 1 ended with the birth of Victoria and Albert’s first child, Vicky, and now we’re about two-thirds through Season 2, with three of their nine children having been born and two more episodes to go. Both Jenna Coleman (Victoria) and Tom Hughes (Albert) are continuing on for season 3, for which all of us fans are very grateful. Over all of the scenes looms the specter of Albert’s death, which we all know is coming when he’s only 42, after he and Victoria have been married for a little over 20 years. All that passion, all that rivalry and head-butting, all that love—all gone. And Victoria left to live on as a widow for 40 years, double the amount of time she spent as a wife.
Freedom
An Outsider’s View of the Bible
The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs, original hardback published in 2007 by Simon & Schuster, now available in a number of formats and sources, all of which are listed on A. J. Jacobs’ website. You may also listen to Jacobs’ TED talk on the subject of his Biblical year and read an interview of Jacobs in Christianity Today.
Well! If you look up all of the information I provide above you (almost) won’t need to read this post. But I hope you will, and then will go on and read the book. I had read it quite some time ago, probably around its publication, and had been struck with its essential sweetness, kindness and fairness.
Hold Things Lightly . . . But Do Hold Them!
Over the past few months as Jim has continued his job search, there have been two strong possibilities that would have involved a very long commute. One job was in Longmont, 60 miles each way, and the other in Westminster, about 45 miles each way. Both jobs were temporary contracts with the possibility of permanent hires. So there was no way that we’d move for such a short term, but we’d never continue the situation of living such a distance from Jim’s job. We’ve always taken into account the length of the commute when we’ve bought houses–admittedly only two so far, but still! So when we first moved to the Washington DC area we said that Jim’s commute was not going to be his second job. We knew that we could get a much bigger and somewhat cheaper house by buying something “outside the Beltway,” but we just didn’t want that. So we bought a small ranch house that in theory was 15 minutes from Jim’s job at the Old Executive Office Building, right next door to the White House. He did end up leaving that project and taking something just over the border into Maryland, so if we had bought something way outside of town in Virginia we would have had to move.
How Do I Exercise My Free Will?
I said in my post last week on Joseph Luzzi’s new book In A Dark Wood that I’d be writing more posts about his ideas. Here’s the first of those.
One of the most vexing topics we face, whether coming at it from a secular or a religious viewpoint, is the question of the limits, or even the possibility, of free will. Modern scientists have postulated that there is no such thing; that the existence and location of every particle in the universe is the result of random chance and is therefore (somewhat counter-intuitively) preordained. As I sit here writing this post, my ideas arise only from the purposeless chemical interactions that are occurring down there within my brain. (There’s a great discussion of this concept in the book I wrote about back in the very first post on this blog.)
Looking Ahead . . . and Missing the Present
We’re always told to plan ahead, look to the future, and keep our eyes on the goal. For me, though, that’s pretty terrible advice. I tend to be like the guy in the picture. There I am, up on the ladder, gazing into the future, and my feet aren’t on the ground of the present. I can imagine myself having lots of speaking engagements, or selling lots of books, or whatever. I have what I would call goals, but I’m not very good at being sure that TODAY, right now, I’m doing what needs to be done that will move me along the way to the desired result. As I say in the chapter on “Motivations, Goals and Desires” in my book (see sidebar for ordering information), “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Are Good Deeds Their Own Reward?
I wrote last week about John Piper’s book Desiring God and said that I had just started reading it and was excited about its ideas. I’ve been chewing over it–a better description than “reading it”–and realizing more and more how much it would have helped me back when I was a college student and struggling with the question of what God wanted me to do with my life. But hey–I’m still struggling with that question. So it’s still helpful.
Fear More, Worry Less
The Gift of Fear and Other Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker, Dell Trade Paperback, 1999, also available in other formats. I’m not sure why I was reminded of this book and put it on hold at the library. I had read it before and remembered portions of it quite well, but it was well worth re-reading. De Becker runs a security firm, providing services and counseling to people who feel and/or indeed are under threat. He himself grew up in an extremely violent home, but instead of becoming violent himself he decided to help reduce violence by giving people the tools they need to protect themselves.A Happiness Paradox
If I plan ahead for an event and am able to relax and enjoy it, I’m sorry when it’s all over. If I procrastinate and have lots of last-minute anxiety, it’s a tremendous relief to have the event behind me. These strange feelings have become especially obvious to me as I’ve looked back on the retreat breakfasts I’ve overseen this year for my wonderful chorale. (But we still have one more concert, and therefore one more Friday-night reception for me to agonize over.)
“God made the food . . .
. . . and he wanted people to take it and thank him for it” (I Timothy 4:3b Worldwide English trans.).
My husband is fond of quoting Martin Luther’s description of humankind as a drunkard on a horse: he goes down the road for awhile and then falls off and rolls into the ditch on the right. Then he staggers back up on the horse and stays on for awhile until he falls off again and this time rolls into the ditch on the left. He spends very little time in the saddle actually going down the middle of the road.