On Knowing

"The distance between the heart and the mind

is greater than the distance of heaven to earth."

Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian (1872-1970)

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- the fear of long words

The weekend Calvin Seerveld spent in our home, he walked in, stopped, smiled, and said, "Your home is more aesthetically obedient than mine." I have thought about those words many times.

Last night I dreamed I was having a conversation with a student. I asked the student, "What do you know?" They began a response but I stopped them. Again, I asked, "What do you know?! Not, what do you think or believe?" I have been chewing on the question all day.

This morning I read this-

"And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth." Job 19:25.

This I know-

In words there is life and there is death.

My wife once told me, "You live in your own little world."

Guilty as charged. I'm working on getting out more.

In The Elements of Style, by Wm. Strunk and E.B. White, I just read-

Choose a suitable design and hold to it.

The first principle of composition, therefore, is to foresee

or determine the shape of what is to come and pursue that shape.

I am God's poema, His composition. I have seen glimpses of the shape I am to become, but, as Brancusi said, "To see far is one thing: going there is another."

This I also know-

God loves me.

An Embarrassment

Wendell Berry

"Do you want to ask

the blessing?"

"No. If you do,

go ahead."

He went ahead:

his prayer dressed up

in Sunday clothes

rose a few feet

and dropped with a soft

thump.

If a lonely soul

did ever cry out

in company its true

outcry to God

it would be as though

at a sedate party

a man suddenly

removed his clothes

and took his wife

passionately into his arms.

Time

"In Your hand are my times."

Psalm 31:15

aubade\oh-BAHD\ ,noun; A song or poem greeting the dawn

It snowed last night, a rare occurrence in Fort Mill, SC.,

so, I walked in the wood. Time is slower under trees.

Time- the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future... Webster's.

Thanks to the mind of the Greeks we have sequential, linear time (the Children of Israel viewed time in a circular dimension). The Hebrew for the word in Psalm 31- times- is from the root aw-daw; times- circumstances. There are three situations which the word describes:

1. Regular events

2. The appropriate time for an nonrecurring incident

3. A set time.

The Greek equivalent is kairos, of which, there is no good English equivalent. Spiros Zodhiates says, "Kairos implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not." My task at hand is teaching High School students who, much of their time, are not interested in being taught. Apathy rules. This morning I am chewing on the first question posed by God to man in Scripture,

"Where are you?"

It is a valid question still. To my students, I pose this question-

"What is your goal?"

Few answer. But then, some answers need more time than others. Art is about questions. The novelist Henry James posed three questions regarding art;

1. What is the artist trying to say?

2. Did he/she succeed?

3. Was it worth saying?

God has given me the amazing opportunity of teaching High School students about the thing called Art; explaining and demonstrating an elusive, fluid concept that can seem as frustrating as grasping Mercury. When all is said and done, it is Mr. James' 3rd question that will be the most important- "Was it worth saying?"

Time will tell.

Epiphany

e·piph·a·ny (-pf-n)

an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking

And so it begins,
a new decade. Today is the day we remember the Magi's 'epiphany'. This morning in faculty prayer, Amy McNelis (Trinity's English teacher Extraordinaire) shared the significance of the gifts presented to the Christ Child- gold, frankincense and myrrh. She gave us visual aids. For the gift of gold there was a foil-wrapped Reese's cup; the marvel of buttery peanuts embraced by chocolate. Frankincense was a scented twig from her kitchen broom and Myrrh- a rainbow band aid. Simply beautiful.
Θεοφάνεια

Theophany- a moment of time when God appears to men. Matthew tells us of such a moment- ...and lo, the star, which they had seen in the East, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly, with great joy (they could hardly contain themselves, The Message). And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

The first Christmas gifts have long been associated with aspects of Christ.
Gold- Lord and King
Frankincense- Priest
Myrrh- Savior
What did Mary wonder as she looked at these gifts? Did she use them? Did she keep them and show them to Jesus later in life?

I placed Amy's 'gifts' on my desk and looked at them throughout the day. The more I looked, the more I saw Jesus in them- the Godman who is a sweet, scented salve.

Well done, Amy.

my exit to work

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

Reality

"You are an endless ocean and a bottomless sea.

Your thoughts define me, this is my reality."

Jonathan David Helser

antique n-tk

Of, or belonging to, the past; not modern.

By definition I am an antique, though I am wrestling with that title. The young people who fill my classroom don't care much for antiques. They are, in many ways, as much a mystery to me as I to them. Therein lies my dilemma- relevance without compromise, i.e., meeting them where they are while maintaining righteous standards. It is difficult for this old dog to teach these young dogs old tricks in new ways. But, I am learning that attentiveness is a reciprocal arrangement. The level of a student's attention toward me is directly related to mine toward them. I watch them. I listen to them. Theirs is a world of witches and vampires, violence and drugs, sex and crude humour. I feel ill equipped. That is precisely where Christ fills the moment. He speaks to me in ways I can relate. Wednesday morning He yelled at me.

I was reading Mark, chapter eight- the account of Jesus feeding 4,000 people with 7 loaves of bread and 'a few fish'. After this miraculous banquet, Jesus and His motley crew climbed into a boat. The story unfolds in verse 14-

'And they (the disciples) had forgotten to take bread; and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He (Jesus) was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." (Religion and Government, but that's another lesson He is trying to teach me!) And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?"'

(And then, Jesus spoke the next verse to me, loudly!)

"Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember...?

He is still trying to teach me the fact of His sufficiency; His ability to exceed the visible 'possibilities' I call facts. I had been fretting over the amount of gas in the car ( at the current price, we use $10.00 daily). I had been struggling with issues of relevance and generational discrepancies in my classroom- a separation of almost four decades.

Eyes. Ears. Memory.

I am concerned for my students. On an infinitely higher level, so is Jesus. So, tomorrow I will put my armour on, go back to the classroom and watch and listen and remember.

Taking off Shoes

"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; and only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Last night I decided I would stay home today. A 3-day head cold had peaked. But, this morning I felt better and I went to work. As I was driving in, contemplating the difference one day makes, the Spirit of God said, "Don't make tomorrow decisions based on today circumstances" (a variation on Matthew 6:34).

Being teachable is hard. Being teachable while teaching is harder. But, this week while teaching, I learned something; this week I remembered something (maybe learning is a form of remembering)- we all want to be heard. From the hungry babe to the elderly parent, our voice goes out. The word therapy comes from the greek word- therapeia, which means 'to be attentive to'. May I see with my ears as I remove my shoes.

"L'art c'est un combat- dans l'art il faut y mettre sa peau."

(Art is a battle- it costs one the skin off one's back)

Millett