Siblings

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply ~

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Dream MLK-style

Unfortunately, King’s conservative Dream has been hijacked by the Left to promote causes King never would have dreamed of supporting, including the legal rights to abortion and same-sex “marriage.” 

King rightly saw that the principles of the Declaration of Independence are rooted in “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” and not in the repudiation of Nature and God for the sake of radical autonomy and equality.

 In severing the essential link in America’s founding principles between law and its trans-political ground in Nature and God, the American Left is making the “rough places plain,” not for the realization of King’s Dream, but for a statist Nightmare.


Author Nathan Schlueter is an associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, my alma mater.

LORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Posting this so that I can reference this quote, especially the part in bold (mine)

In 1890, Andrew Bonar commented in his diary on the effect of reading The Life of David Brainerd. Without at all questioning the excellence of that man of God, Bonar wrote:

It seemed to me that he [Brainerd] did not hold fellowship with the living Saviour as he might have done, and did not see himself covered with Christ's merits whereby God's eye was turned away from his imperfections, corruptions, ignorance, failures, because the obedience of Christ was imputed to him. I would be like Brainerd every day, mourning and sad, if I did not see myself so covered with the obedience of Christ that the Father saw me in Him to be beautiful and attractive, because of the garment of righteousness [July 20, 1890].

Beautiful and attractive? Not in ourselves, nor need we try to make ourselves so, but our 'beauty is perfect, through my comeliness, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD' (Ezekiel 16:14).  

Discretionary Time

Wondering what I've been up to, since blog posts are few and far between?

"Of all the healthy lifestyle habits one could adopt at midlife,
resistance training, or strength training,
is perhaps the most important."

Kathy Smith

Fitness Expert

Photo taken 22 March 2013

The Roots of American Order:Chapter V
Favorite Quote 


In light of the current political climate, that is, a presidential election year, I read and re-read the final paragraph of The Genius of Christianity, because it gives me hope.

Christianity prescribes no especial form of politics.  The Church has co-existed with monarchies, autocracies, aristocracies, oligarchies, republics, democracies, and even some of the 20th century totalist regimes.  Yet if Christian belief be general among a people, then any political domination is affected by Christian teachings about the moral order.  That moral order works upon the political order.  Christian concepts of justice, charity, community, and duty may transform a society without any abrupt alteration of governmental framework.  The worth of the person, the equality of all men before the judgment-seat of God, the limitations upon all earthly authority - such convictions as these would shape the American Republic.

Like author Eric Metaxas recently gave President Obama copies of two of his books, Bonhoeffer and Amazing Grace (about Wilberforce), and like Russell Kirk supplied reading material to several presidents and presidential candidates,  I want to give to Mrs. Obama, Mrs. Romney, Mrs. Gringrich, Mrs. Santorum, and Mrs. Paul copies of The Roots of American Order.


Think I would be wasting my time and money?

The Roots of American Order:Chapter IV
Favorite Quote 

Mankind can endure anything but boredom. 

Kirk's comment (pg 132) is very telling.


We all, especially mothers, should take note, and make sure to teach the fate of bores.


Bored, boring, bores, boredom ~ 


Here's a link to some of my *boring* thoughts.


Here's what Emily Post has to say about being bored.

There is no reason why you should be bored when you can be otherwise.

But if you find yourself sitting in the hedgerow with nothing but weeds,

there is no reason for shutting your eyes and seeing nothing,

instead of finding what beauty you may in the weeds. 

Last but not least, here's a link to Kirk's The Architecture of Servitude and Boredom from his book Redeeming the Time. 


It behooves us to understand the enemy called *Boredom*

Order/Membership

This word *order* implies membership:  an order is something that one belongs to.

All American citizens are born into this American order, or else are formally naturalized into it.

Active participation in this order is both a right and an obligation, and whether this order improves or decays must depend upon the quality of that participation.

Russell Kirk
In God's Own Good Time:
Reflections Upon American Order
The Intercollegiate Review, Spring 1973

Encouragement

I do not advise that we end the year on a somber note. 


The march, not the dirge, has ever been the music of Christianity.


If we are good students in the school of life, there is much the years have to teach us.


But the Christian is more than a student, more than a philosopher.


He is a believer, and the object of his faith makes the difference, the mighty difference. 

Of all persons the Christian should be best prepared for whatever the New Year brings.  He has dealt with life at its source.


In Christ he has disposed of a thousand enemies that other men must face alone and unprepared.


He can face his tomorrow cheerful and unafraid because yesterday he turned his feet into the ways of peace and today he lives in God.


The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation.

A.W. Tozer - The Warfare of the Spirit

Ten Things


After listening to a speech given at a recent tea party rally, I have distilled the message into ten words.  The heart of the message is a prescription for saving not just America but freedom - both political and religious.

1)   Believe
2)   Act
3)   Pray
4)   Discern
5)   Support
6)   Vote
7)   Join
8)   Subscribe
9)   Testify
10) Persevere






I plan to write a vignette about each of these action words.

In the meantime, let's examine the landscape and renew our commitment to culture.

The following quote is from one of my college professors, Russell Kirk.  The garden metaphor gives me more direction and is a huge encouragement.

A culture is perennially in need of renewal.

A culture does not survive and prosper merely by being taken for granted; active defense is always required, and imaginative growth, too.

Everyone is involved.
This is a link to an artist who supports the cause.

Whether you like it or not.

Whether you acknowledge it or not.

Be a force for Good.
This is a link to a expositional sermon on Psalm 111 where the LORD is praised for His Goodness.

Make sure it lasts.
This is a link to an essay about Steve Jobs who died this past week.

Larry McDonald Memorial Highway

All we need do is return to the fine highway we were once on.

There is a stretch of Interstate Highway 75 from the Chattahoochee River northward to the Tennessee state line that I have traveled all my life, but that I want to call to your attention today.

In 1998, the Georgia General Assembly designated this thoroughfare,
the Larry McDonald Memorial Highway.

Thousands of people pass this sign daily.

I suspect that most ignore it.

Today, on the 28th anniversary of his death, do I especially remember
this family friend, former employer, and dedicated American
by calling attention to the principles he dedicated his life to teaching and preserving.

The above quote comes from the first chapter of his book,
We Hold These Truths: A Reverent Review of the U.S. Constitution,
and tells us how to reclaim our freedoms. 

The complexity of social organization does change.

 Our technologically sophisticated industrial society is more complex than the agrarian society
 of the eighteenth century. In this regard, that was a "simpler world."

But the complexities of politics (politics here meaning the science of governing)

  do not change much.

The basic political problems confronting the Framers of our Constitution

  were as complex as our political problems today -
 perhaps more so, because they were striking off into the dangerous unknown, whereas

all we need do is return to the fine highway we were once on.

Skip watching the Republican Presidential Debate next week.

Read Larry McDonald's book and use it as a guide to assess
a political candidate's worthiness of your support.

He explains the *free way*.

Much Depends Upon Dinner*

Children in our culture learn manners at the dining table, and not manners only.


It is believed that falling away from the cultural custom of eating with others at table three times a day can cause backwardness in all of a child's speaking skills.

pg 13




Cultural anthropologist, Margaret Visser, has intrigued me for a long time.  Ever since I received her first book* as a gift.  And while I have not finished reading this one, the two-sentence excerpt above covers a lot of ground when it comes to rearing a family these days.

I think many make the task out to be harder than it really is.

Just remember ~

Eat together often.

Visitin'  happens.

The Fatal Conceit

The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

F. A. Hayek
Austrian Economist
1899 - 1992


Not generally a fan of rap, I am do recommend watching these videos using this new type of music to explain economics.  Link to Econstories.tv




FWIW - I had the distinct opportunity to have dinner with Professor/Doctor Hayek in 1977, when I was a student at Hillsdale College.  I was just 19 years old and failed to take the opportunity to ask good questions while sitting on his immediate left.  The main thing I remember were his manners ~ when the meal was over, he politely asked if I minded, if he dipped  ;-)

Easter Sunday, April 25, 1943

Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been arrested just days before.  He didnt think he'd be there long.  But ended up being there for two years before being hanged by Hitler's posse on April 9, 1945.

Here's a quote from his writings that tell us how he viewed his position that day.

"One of the great advantages of Good Friday and Easter Day is that they take us out of ourselves, and make us think of other things, of life and its meaning, and of its suffering and events. It gives us such a lot to hope for."

Here's a link to my review of a recent biography.


Here's a link to a free download of the Easter Story.


Listen and believe!

For a Time of Sorrow

Sorrow is one of the things that are lent, not given.
A thing that is lent may be taken away;
A thing that is given is not taken away.
Joy is given.
Sorrow is lent.

We are not our own, we are bought with a price (I Cor 6:19-20).

"And our sorrow is not our own." (Samuel Rutherford said this a long time ago.)  It is lent to us for just a little while that we may use it for eternal purposes.  Then it will be taken away and everlasting joy will be our Father's gift to us.

The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces (Isaiah 25:8)


Amy Carmichael
Edges of His Ways

Book Club:  Imagination #5 Discussion Questions


In our family "Our hero" is always followed by "Harold Ramorez." Why?

Who is Harold Ramorez?
Is he related to Epaminondas?

What is your favorite heroic epic?

Eneas Africanus by Harry Stillwell Edwards

Have you memorized this poem yet?

No

Why not?

Per Plato, my memory has been destroyed and my mind is weak.
Plus I have two copies (one hardback, one paperback) and it's available to you to read online.


In competition with Sir Walter's lofty lines,
I propose Randolph of Roanoke by John Greenleaf Whittier ~

All parties feared him: each in turn
Beheld its schemes disjointed,
As right or left his fatal glance
And spectral finger pointed.
Sworn foe of Cant, he smote it down
With trenchant wit unsparing,
And, mocking, rent with ruthless hand
The robe Pretence was wearing.

Too honest or too proud to feign
A love he never cherished,
Beyond Virginia’s border line
His patriotism perished.
While others hailed in distant skies
Our eagle’s dusky pinion,
He only saw the mountain bird
Stoop o’er his Old Dominion!


What do Yeats, Walter Scott and Flannery O'Connor have in common?

Piety of Place  ~

I'm on a mission to find out why Mary Flannery named her place *Andalusia.*
This link to the farm website states that the O'Connors called it *Sorrel Farms* until they realized the original owners/family had named it *Andalusia.*


In A Good Man is Hard to Find did you feel badly about what happened to the grandmother?

Frankly, I was totally taken aback by the story, having never wanted to read it again.   But after perusing some of O'Connor's non-fiction, now I understand that she was purposefully trying to shock the reader.  I still question her approach (I am still turned off by her characters) and turn to Mark Twain's advice for comfort ~

Truth is stranger than Fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possiblities.  Truth is not.


Even though a lot of people from Florence, Italy are apparently in Hell, why do we still desire to visit that city?

Because Tony Esolen is lead guide for the tour.

How does this chapter relate to what is currently happening in Egypt?

If I stretch my imagination, I'll guess that some Egyptians are acting on feelings of patriotism.   But I'm rather suspicious of the situation and like to read alternative news sources.  One article suggests that a MLK comic inspired some.  Another suggests that the uprising started after a young girl's speech.


Questions inspired by the imagination of book club moderator and writer extraordinaire, Cindy.

Join the discussion!

Book Club:  Imagination Method #4

It destroys memory
and weakens the mind,
relieving it of the work
that makes it strong.

It is an inhuman thing.

What is it?



Just like Plato lamented the use of the stylus during his lifetime, Anthony Esolen makes a valiant case against exposing ourselves to the synthetic light emanating from the GNAC, whether it be an LED or a neon billboard.

Sound bites, cliches, spin, or propaganda, Esolen gives us example after example of how truth has been corrupted and reading literature will keep you from falling for everything (from decay).

Just like I admired the dust jacket for Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, this week I spent time studying the bibliography and index.  Those two sections distinguish this book, making it more useful.  But in order for our charges to be able to read and comprehend the recommended novels, we teachers must lay a solid groundwork early on in our children's schooling.

There are lots of ways to build that foundation.

Those basics never change.

But there is a host of skills that parents alone must demonstrate.

Nothing better than a cursory examination of the current state of affairs in the great USofA (link to Land of Opportunity) and watching our current leaders talk like they are living in Camelot (link to prayer b'fast analysis) proves that we are already stultified.

Please don't tell me that you dont know what I'm talking about.



Bonus Link:  (Creative Writing by Yours Truly)

Bookclub: Imagination Method #2

Idyllic is one way of describing the child's life being promoted by Anthony Esolen in his parenting manual, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. 


By juxtaposing a variety of typical childhood experiences, the author demonstrates a superior method for rearing our charges and developing their imaginations, those valuable vaults of images, sensations, and concepts.

As I read through the details of uninterrupted play, spontaneous neighborhood baseball games, and nightime river exploration, I wanted to think that I could point to similar experiences.  I wanted to believe that my children could recall such times as well.

Unfortunately, we all know that growing up is not usually that charming.

I also found myself relating to Tormentaria, that planet populated with specimens ready and awaiting to be molded by The Visionaries, because more often my schedule resembled the structured over the looser one.

Unfortunately, I keep feeling a void in Esolen's premise, which I suspect he addresses in Method 10, the Transcendence.  Why does he wait so long to bring up this vital aspect?

I mean how do the boys in the baseball game know about forgiveness?

Or how do the river boys know to make a compact or the importance of sealing it with blood?

Or as in my case, how did we girls know how to structure our families when we played house?

We didnt just *make.them.up*

Some committee informed us.

It's called the Trinity.

That awesome threesome who authored the penultimate parenting how-to volume.

Make sure that downspout (gargoyle) is pouring out life-giving water over your child's head day in and day out.


Like Deuteronomy 6:7 ~


Impress them (commands, decress, laws) on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.


AND
2 Corinthians 10:5 (three translations)

casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; (American Standard Version)

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (New International Version)

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (New American Standard)


As well as these wise words from a modern-day Godly ruler, Abraham Kuyper ~

"Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

Read more about it at our online bookclub.




Bonus Bits ~

Consider reading the chapter entitled Creativity in George Roche's excellent book, Education in America.  His information adds substance to Esolen's and is available free online.

Funny, pertinent story about committees at this link.




Photo Credit:
Gargoyle by Ed O'Keefe

Artwork Credit:
Stamp issued by gov't
of Liberia

Happy Birthday, (Father) Abraham!

"Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"*


Today remember this fine historian, theologian, philosopher, writer by reading something by him.

It's his 173rd birthday!

The Christian Classics Ethereal Library makes it easy with their online articles.

Or at The Kuyper Foundation.  I'm particularly interested in To Be Near Unto God, 110 essays inspired by Psalm 73.


Also, Happy 76th Birthday to my father who introduced me to this Kuperian principle!


*"Sphere Sovereignty", in James D. Bratt, ed., Abraham Kuyper, A Centennial Reader, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998) (p. 488)

Top Ten: Walking Routes

Mark Fenton's book is the one which helped me establish a walking program.

Truth be known ~ after purchase, it sat on the shelf for a couple of years.

And then I took his simple advice.

I hopped got out of the car (waiting in carpool line) and walked five minutes in one direction, turned around, and walked the five minutes back to the car.

Quickly I built up steam and stamina.  However, it always takes a bit of mental discipline to get up and going.

Here's a short list of my favorite ordinary routes with links a one-time blog entry.


1)  Larkwood
2)  Heritage Park
3)  Boling Park
4)  Canton Loop
5)  Canton Stretch
6)  Canton Historic
7)  Canton Bluffs
8)  River Green
9)  Prominence Point
10)The Basement


Early on, I determined that I didnt want to train for competition (racewalking), but for health and pleasure. 

Learning the local history and trying to keep in shape are motivators enough.

But I think I may work through this PBS series on walking to help me stay on task.

And remember J M Barrie's* sound advice ~

 Make your feet your friend.

Where do you like to walk?




*Author of Peter Pan

My Hero

On the battlefield, when surrounded and cheered by pomp, excitement, and admiration of devoted comrades, and inspired by strains of martial music and the hope of future reward, it is comparatively easy to be a hero, to do heroic deeds.


But to uphold honor in ordinary circumstances, to be a hero in common life, that is a genuine achievement meriting our highest admiration.

Booker T. Washington

1856 – 1915