Truth is there are links of things -- unspeakable things being spoken all over this world -- that I'm thinking a whole lot about these days. I just can't. I can't link them here. If you're online at all (which, presumably, you are since you're reading this post) you've already seen unspeakable posted in headlines linking all across the internet -- right next to videos of cute baby elephants and photos of the beautiful cups of coffee and homemade pies.
We've made the unspeakable not only printable, but viral. And we are such liars -- no matter what our ideas are about life and death and flourishing and human rights for the ones we deem human and death for the ones we deem unworthy -- we lie. We celebrate life and death, seemingly on a whim. We lie with our double standards and our own propped-up notions of being gods in this universe that rains down meteors declaring the glory of God while we scroll headlines about unspeakable things.
That's really what I'm thinking about this week, but the following list is a close second. May the peace of Christ our King (who only speaks Truth) rule over your own minds and hearts this weekend.
| 1 | Superheroes, Just for Each Other by Peter S. Goodman at The New York Times
"I am no superhero. Neither is my wife. But we have a bond that somehow enables us to save each other from basic human weakness. This is its own kind of superpower."
I've been thinking about the definition of marriage a lot lately -- and not for only the reasons you might think. Brian and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in a few months and I've been contemplating a blog series on the subject. We'll see about that. In the meantime, this is a sweet essay about the mutuality of strength in marriage.
| 2 | Instead of Facebook, a book of faces my post for Think Christian
"Christians, after all, live in a story of delight and deformity, every mark a reminder of what was and is and is to come. We follow the God who became disfigured to heal our disfigurement. Artists like Bruce Gilden push against the fallen instinct to shield ourselves from the uncomfortable realities around us and within us. The subjects in Face give us a gift by exposing - up close and in full color - their vulnerability. To meet them is to know their stories, raw and unfiltered."
I was grateful for this assignment from the editor at Think Christian. Bruce Gilden's work challenged my (unintentional) preoccupation with a filtered image-driven world.
| 3 | 3 questions I ask myself before buying something & Ethical Shopping Guide at Art of Simple
"Don’t get me wrong—sometimes shopping for the right thing, the thing you need, can be a fun endeavor. I’m down with that. But I’ll also venture to say that shopping for the heck of it, to stave off boredom when nothing is needed, and to add it to the clutter at home, really is a first-world diversion."
Super helpful information during the season of back-to-school shopping.
| 4 | Hope for when you regret the past. Tell Auntie Leila. at Like Mother, Like Daughter
"Not that there isn’t always much to be grateful for, and for sure many are suffering much worse things than I (or you, even) … it’s just… the defeat of it all… way back when; some of which may not have been our fault. Sometimes we suffer misfortune, and what could be termed crop failures of the soul, if not the actual physical farm. Floods and droughts, real and metaphorical, events not necessarily of our own making.
And some things very much of our own making.
I was mentioning to a friend the other day how few blogs I've found written by women who have done this hard work of mothering for long enough to write from a long view. I am so thankful for the Like Mother, Like Daughter blog. In a season of watching my chicks fly the coop, I confess I've read just about every post. If you only get to read one post, though, read this one.And sometimes the bitterness is hard to overcome. Especially when we get to that place where we see that things might have worked out, if we had known then what we know now!"
| 5 | How to read "Go Set A Watchman" at Modern Mrs. Darcy
"If you choose to skip this book, I understand that decision. I do think that serious students of writing or literature will be enthralled by the ties between the two works. The comparisons are rich, and many."
Will you or won't you read it? This is the question I've been asking my book-loving friends. The answers are mixed. I think I'll wait a couple of years at least -- let the dust settle a bit. When the time comes, though, I'll definitely be taking Anne's advice.
| 6 | Editing Suburbia by Jenni Simmons at The Curator
"After reading Saverin’s Atlantic piece, I don’t love Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any less—it is still some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read—but I do look at the book differently. Now I know that part of Dillard’s story is missing. It would be more compelling to know that a housewife wrote such a phenomenal book, admitting her suburban reality instead of the typical dismissal of suburbia, deeming such a common life boring or uncool."
I didn't realize this little bit of creative omission in one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. I'm so glad I first learned of it through Jenni's gracious insight.
| 7 | Top 10 Online Recordings to celebrate Wendell Berry's 80th birthday at Englewood Review of Books & Wendell Berry Earns Highest Humanities Award, Lectures on Economy and Imagination at Sojo.net & A polite disagreement with Jayber Crow and the Mad Farmer my post for Art House America blog
So many good things about the Mad Farmer this month -- and, yes, I'm including the bit written by yours truly. A good and contrary man. America is blessed to have him.
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Hoping for a good and content weekend for us all, friends.
Peace....
