Selah

My favorite find from today's walk

"God writes straight in crooked lines, and man cannot evaluate them as he lives on one level and can see from only one perspective. We are not the final arbiter of meaning. What looks absurd within the limits of time may be luminous within the scope of eternity."

Abraham Joshua Heschel, A Passion For Truth

Millie, my Granddaughter

Bookmarks for Christmas

Yesterday began week two of Christmas break. There's coffee and books, midday walks in the wood, and painting. There is also time to rest, and think. Yesterday I read- "The decisions you make today will impact someone's tomorrow."

Derwin L. Gray.

I've been looking at the symbolic meanings of the Hebrew characters in the word 'selah'. Somewhat of a mystery to scholars, the word is a musical notation whose meaning has wandered. Selah is composed of three characters. The first letter, the samech, was the picture of a hand on a staff; symbol of support, cycle, ring. The lamed, an ox goad, symbolized learning and teaching, control and authority. The final character, the heh, represented arms extended and symbolized spirit, wind and word. Pause, crescendo or musical interlude are the translations most agreed upon.

I think it's good to have words that cause us to stop.

They are like finding the perfect pebble.

Here are a few photos of the wood where I walk:

Birthdays

My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky;

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old, or let me die!

The child is father of the man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth

1804

A short note to those I teach-

The world you know will change and you will wonder where it went.

I blew candles out tonite. Again. How quickly the annual lighting occurs. The significance of a birthday changes every year. This year I wondered, "Why candles?" (My cake had only 3 this year, probably due to budget and fire code).

Nostalgia is dangerous. Today it occurred to me that when a student talks about a former teacher they 'loved', they almost always mention a specific assignment associated with that teacher. The sum of said teacher becomes encapsulated within said assignment and that teacher is wonderful. I wonder if I have any of those students out there? Or, better yet, I wonder how many of those former teachers were told they were wonderful in the moment. I confess to having former students who were wonderful and I never told them so. The danger of nostalgic memory? Singular moments glorify or vilify people.

Slowly, I am beginning to understand some of my students.

Here's a thought from C.H. Spurgeon-

"We are foolish to expect to serve God without opposition; the more zealous we are, the more sure are we to be assailed by the myrmidons of hell."

myrmidon \ˈmər-mə-ˌdän, -dən\

one who executes without scruple his master's command