Straighten Up

When I was a little girl, my grandfather was constantly reprimanding me for my bad posture. He suffered from scoliosis and so was hyper-conscious of others' form. As most children tend to do, I slumped. Despite his words echoing in my memory, I still slump. I'm slumping now at my desk as I type. Some people never learn, do they?

It's not just my physical posture that could use improvement these days. It's my posture as a thinking believer, too. And for that reason, I'm thankful for this reminder by Anna Blanch on prayerfully approaching research. I should learn the Aquinas meditation my heart.

How Sweet the Sound

Video: Il Divo, "Amazing Grace"

When John Newton's testimony is retold in four-part harmony, against the stunning backdrop of the Coliseum that was once the site of horrific persecution, it reminds me of the lasting and redemptive power grace has in the human experience. Thanks be to God.

Where have you experienced grace, and what did it look like?

Bright Star

One of the beauties--or banes, if you prefer--of the internet is that you can nearly always find someone who shares your opinion of any given subject. Take the recent film Bright Star about John Keats' love affair with Fanny Brawne, for instance. It's rare that I go see a movie, but this one called me out from among my books, being about one of my favorite poets. My roommate and I saw it a few weeks ago, and all this time, I've been wanting to write a review of it. But what to say? I found myself left dumb in the wake of such an exquisite piece of work. But Meredith says it all so I don't have to. See her post "Laboring to be beautiful" on her blog, For Keats' Sake.

Violent Meditation

C.S. Lewis, in his introduction to his Reflections on the Psalms, called poetry "a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible."

I love the way Mary Karr's poem "gives body" to her meditation on the Incarnation in her sonnet "Descending Theology: The Resurrection."

From the far star points of his pinned extremities,

cold inched in—black ice and squid ink—

till the hung flesh was empty.

Lonely in that void even for pain,

he missed his splintered feet,

the human stare buried in his face.

He ached for two hands made of meat

he could reach to the end of.

In the corpse’s core, the stone fist

of his heart began to bang

on the stiff chest’s door, and breath spilled

back into that battered shape. Now

it’s your limbs he comes to fill, as warm water

shatters at birth, rivering every way.

Poem text: The Poetry Foundation

Strict Joy

Defining serendipity:

• turning on the radio yesterday to hear Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard being interviewed on NPR
• finding out I could listen to The Swell Season's new album, Strict Joy, on Pandora.
• learning the duo will be performing in St. Louis, December 4th.
  

A Little Cottage is Always Very Snug

How about this for a coincidence? The cute little cottage around the corner from us that's getting a makeover, the white one with shutters and whose lights were on, illuminating a buttery interior and its owners were there working a few evenings ago when my roommate and I were out for a stroll in the mist, the one I loved, is the house Dr. and Mrs. B. are fixing up. Mrs. B. saw us enjoying an afternoon stroll in the sun today and came out to say hello. I'm glad she did. We got to see inside.

Words at Play

I'm back! A little jaunt this weekend over to the 2009 Nimrod writing conference, Words at Play, at the University of Tulsa. How do you like to play with words? Or is writing all business for you?

Weighing Life's Pros and Cons at the End of Today

The bad:
~Skipping Writers' Bloc, the student writers group to write my review of ESL composition resources
~Using the wrong interest rate to figure the amortization schedule on a 25 year mortgage
~Not getting to sign up for classes next semester, especially Dr. Rapinchuk's second semester Greek, 20th century British Lit in which Dr. Head will teach the Inklings, and Dr. Blake's treatment of the American novels of Wharton, Cather, and O'Connor
~Not having exercised in such A Very Long Time I'm not sure I could if I tried
~Not knowing how to deal with conflict and divergent views--a recurring theme?
~Consuming too much caffeine and sugar
~"Service Engine Soon" appearing on my dashboard

The good:
~Autumn's color burnishing the hills
~Getting better test grades in Psych and on the GRE essay than I thought possible
~Croissant with coffee
~Two o'clock class cancelled
~A dreaded paper assignment that turned out to be interesting
~Friends who'll come bake cookies in my kitchen and leave me some
~Other friends who'll call me just to say they have a phone again
~Knowing I might not be able to ace a math test, but I can knit cables on a tea cozy

Sometimes convincing oneself that life is good takes making lists. Yes, Life is beautiful. Thank you, Lord.