Light poems that I love. Carl Sandberg.
Come clean with a child heart
Laugh as peaches in the summer wind
Let rain on a house roof be a song
Let the writing on your face
be a smell of apple orchards on late June.
-Carl Sandburg copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos and My Kailyard, 2012 -2018 Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
What do I do with evidence?
“Often the Christian is accused of taking a “blind leap into the dark”. This idea often finds itself rooted in Kierkegaard.
For me, Christianity was not a “leap into the dark”, but rather “a step into the light”. I took the evidence that I could gather and placed it on the scales. The scales tipped in favor of Christ as the Son of God, resurrected from the dead. The evidence so overwhelmingly leans toward Christ that when I became a Christian, I was “stepping into the ligh” rather than “leaping into the darkness.”
If I had been exercising “blind faith”, I would have rejected Jesus Christ and turned my back on all the evidence.
Be careful. I am not saying that I proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Son of God. What I did was to investigate the evidence and weigh the pros and cons. The results showed that Christ must be who He claimed to be, and I had to make a decision, which I did. The immediate reaction of many is, “You found what you wanted to find.” This is not the case. I confirmed through investigation what I wanted to refute. I set out to disprove Christianity. I had biases and prejudices not for Christ but contrary to Him.
Hume would say historical evidence is invalid because one cannot establish “absolute truth”. I was not looking for absolute truth but rather for “historical probability.” -quote from J. McDowell’s “Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Evidence I”.
Reading and Writing in Ancient Times and Today
Thoughts come to mind last night and this morning, on books, reading, writing.
Read recently that in ancient times almost all reading was done aloud. I think it was probably done more slowly too. It was a group activity, communal. Non-isolating. Nice. I imagine that the reading part of things felt group-ey and cozy, and then, afterward, the individual’s thought processes, going on alone and in privacy in the person’s head, the cogitations ABOUT what had been read, felt complementary and a fruitful offshoot from the communal reading experience. Verbal processors would also have felt free to discuss together with others the readings that had taken place, even down to quoting and dissecting exact phrases and words.
Looking at the timeline in the front of my Bible this morning I see that papyrus to make paper and ink for writing were discovered by the Egyptians as long ago as 2500 B.C. The first libraries then appeared! I love a good library. Have one on my Kindle, these days…
2nd-favorite Amy Carmichael poem
Prayer Poem by Amy Carmichael
From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,)
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay
The hope no disappointments tire
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
– by Amy Carmichael
copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos by Globeroamer 2012 -2018. Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
What a time of year to illustrate this favorite Gerard Manley Hopkins poem!
I’ve loved this poem ever since I was nineteen, when my mom, who is a children’s writer, and a poet, shared it with me.
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut falls, finches wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plow;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow, sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
Hmmmm! How about This!
“One reason why many people find Creative Evolution/Life Force so attractive is that it gives one much of the emotional comfort of believing in God and none of the less pleasant consequences. When you are feeling fit and the sun is shining and you do not want to believe that the whole universe is a mere mechanical dance of atoms, it’s nice to be able to think of this great mysterious Force rolling on through the centuries and carrying you on its crest. If, on the other hand, you want to do something rather shabby, the Life Force, being only a blind force, with no morals and no mind, will never interfere with you like that troublesome God we learned about when we were children. The Life-force is a sort of tame God. You can switch it on when you want but it will not bother you. All the thrills of religion and none of the cost. Is the Life-Force the greatest achievement of wishful thinking the world has yet seen?” C.S. Lewis in Book One of his book, “Mere Christianity”
______ _______ ______
“Niña de Sus ojos” here….I’m done quoting C. S. Lewis for the moment. I do love C. S. Lewis. And, how can so many of the things he said be so timely, so “undated”, even after more than half a century? He wrote this in the early forties of the last century!
There are those…
“There are those who, while they love the altar and delight in the sacrifice (Tozier is speaking of the Old Testament imagery of the ancient Israeli altar building, out of stones, and animal sacrifices upon the altars, which were a “figure” or “proto-type”, looking ahead, toward the once-and-for-all sacrifice/atonement for sin of Jesus, the “Perfect Lamb of God”, on the cross.)………are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the “piercing sweetness” of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing.” – A.W. Tozier in his book, “The Pursuit of God”.
There are creative reading, creative thinking, creative sewing and creative cooking, as well as creative writing…
“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I’d Rather have Roses on my Table than Diamonds on my Neck.” – Emma Goldman
And Bolivia’s a good place to live in relation to this neat saying by Emma Goldman, since roses proliferate in these highlands, are not expensive and are not considered to be only for the elite. copyright The Kailyard by NinadesusOjos, 2012 -2018. Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
Light poems that I love. Carl Sandberg.
Come clean with a child heart
Laugh as peaches in the summer wind
Let rain on a house roof be a song
Let the writing on your face
be a smell of apple orchards on late June.
-Carl Sandburg copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos and My Kailyard, 2012 -2018 Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins
I’ve loved this poem ever since I was nineteen, when my mom, who is a children’s writer, and a poet, shared it with me.
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut falls, finches wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plow;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow, sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
N.T. Wright
“How can we tell the story of Jesus in a simple way, when so many elemental forces came rushing together at that point in space and time? So much history, so many bad memories, such high expectations and aspirations, such a tangled web of faith and fear and hatred and hope.
And so many memorable characters crowding onto the stage, catching our eye and firing our imagination: Mary Magdalene, Peter, Pontius Pilate, Judas… the list goes on. And then we catch a glimpse – or was it just our imagination – of Jesus himself, towering over them but without ever appearing aloof. Who was he? What was he about? What was he trying to do? Why should we care, two thousand years later?
These were, of course, the questions his closest friends wanted to ask as they woke him up in the middle of an actual storm on the Sea of Galilee. It’s still a dangerous place today. There are signs in the parking lots on the western side of the sea warning that high waves can sweep giant waves right over parked vehicles. But Jesus wasn’t fazed. According to the story, He got up and told the storm to be quiet (Matthew 8: 23 – 27; Mark 4:35 – 41; Luke 8: 22 – 25). And it obeyed him.
I think his friends told that story not only because it was striking and dramatic in itself, but because they saw in it something of the larger story they were struggling to tell: the story of a man in the eye of the storm, the storm of history and culture, of politics and piety, a man who seemed to be asleep in the middle of it all, but who then stood up and told the wind and the waves to stop.” -“Simply Jesus” by N.T. Wright
2nd-favorite Amy Carmichael poem
Prayer Poem by Amy Carmichael
From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,)
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay
The hope no disappointments tire
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
– by Amy Carmichael
copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos by The Kailyard, 2012 -2018. Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
“There is Creative Reading as Well as Creative Writing”
“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos by NinadesusOjos, 2012 -2019. Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
A Dennis Lehane Quote about Home
Happiness doesn’t lie in conspicuous consumption and the relentless amassing of useless crap. Happiness lies in the person sitting beside you and your ability to talk to them. Happiness is clear-headed human interaction and empathy. Happiness is home. And home is not a house. Home is a mythological conceit. It is a state of mind. A place of communion and unconditional love. It is where, when you cross its threshhold, you finally feel at peace.
2nd-favorite Amy Carmichael poem
Prayer Poem by Amy Carmichael
From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified,)
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay
The hope no disappointments tire
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
– by Amy Carmichael
copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos by NinadesusOjos, 2012 -2019. Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Some “pied” Bolivia beauty in a Saturday morning open air market, Cochabamba
I’ve loved this poem ever since I was nineteen, when my mom, who is a children’s writer, and a poet, shared it with me.
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut falls, finches wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plow;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow, sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
I’ve been reading a new book about photography, graphic arts and creative writing.
Been reading a book about photography, songwriting, graphic arts and creative writing, and it has some great quotes in it. Here’s one, about online and computer use.
“Step away from the screen. My favorite cartoonist, Lynda Barry, has this saying: “In the digital age, don’t forget to use your digits!” Your hands are the original digital devices. Use them. While I love my computer, I think computers have robbed us of the feeling that we’re actually making things. Instead, we’re just typing keys and clicking mouse buttons. This is why so-called knowledge work seems so abstract. The artist Stanley Donwood, who’s made all the album artwork for the band Radiohead, says computers are alienating because they put a sheet of glass between you and whatever is happening. ‘You never really touch anything you are doing unless you print it out,’ Donwood says. Just watch someone at their computer. They’re so still, so immobile. You don’t need a scientific study (of which there are a few) to tell you that sitting in front of a computer all day is killing you, and killing your work. We need to move, to feel like we’re making something with our bodies – not just our heads. Work that only comes from the head isn’t any good. Watch a great musician play a show. Watch a great leader give a speech. You’ll see what I mean.” You need to find a way to bring your body into your work. Our nerves aren’t a one-way street – our bodies can tell our brains as much as our brains tell our bodies.” – from “Steal like an Artist” by Austin Kleon
From “Finding Calcutta” by Dr. Mary Poplin
“They do not analyze the worthiness of people or the cause of their poverty – they simply (reach out) as quickly as possible to the best of their ability. To the missionaries, poverty is first a spiritual problem and only secondarily a political one. (Teresa of Calcutta) said, “I won’t mix in politics. War is the fruit of politics and so, I don’t involve myself, that’s all. If I get stuck in politics I will stop loving. Because I will have to stand by one, not by all. That is the difference.” – p. 50, “Finding Calcutta” by Dr. Mary Poplin
“One result of (the missionaries’ first-hand knowledge of poverty) is that they do not treat poor parents as the enemies of poor children. They value and seek to serve the whole family.” – p. 57, “Finding Calcutta” by Dr. Mary Poplin
From “Finding Calcutta” by Dr. Mary Poplin
“They do not analyze the worthiness of people or the cause of their poverty – they simply (reach out) as quickly as possible to the best of their ability. To the missionaries, poverty is first a spiritual problem and only secondarily a political one. (Teresa of Calcutta) said, “I won’t mix in politics. War is the fruit of politics and so, I don’t involve myself, that’s all. If I get stuck in politics I will stop loving. Because I will have to stand by one, not by all. That is the difference.” – p. 50, “Finding Calcutta” by Dr. Mary Poplin
“One result of (the missionaries’ first-hand knowledge of poverty) is that they do not treat poor parents as the enemies of poor children. They value and seek to serve the whole family.” – p. 57, “Finding Calcutta” by Dr. Mary Poplin
Proverbs and the Life Application Study Bible notes.
“Strategy for effective living begins with God’s wisdom; respecting and appreciating Who God is; reverence and awe toward God.
Strategy for effective living requires moral application; allowing God’s WORD to speak to us personally; being willing to obey.
Strategy for effective living requires practical application; acting on God’s direction daily.
Strategy for effective living results in………effective living! (Experiencing what God is going to do with our obedience.)”
– taken from the scripture Proverbs 3:21-23 and the Life Application Bible Study NOTES. NLT, p.1315.
Imagine if You Can
“Imagine if you can a world in which character is revered as much as beauty and money and fame are now. Picture the magazine leads: “World’s 
Most Generous Woman”, “Kindest Man Alive”, “Lose Ten Ugly Character Traits in Just Ten Days!” – Victoria Moran
“I’d Rather have Roses on my Table than Diamonds on my Neck.” – Emma Goldman
And Bolivia’s a good place to live in relation to this neat saying by Emma Goldman, since roses proliferate in these highlands, are not expensive and are not considered to be only for the elite. copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos by NinadesusOjos, 2012 -2018. Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
“There is Creative Reading as Well as Creative Writing”
“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
copyright La Nina de Sus Ojos by NinadesusOjos, 2012 -2018
Any and all unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, including all photographs, without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited by law.
GlobeRoamer 
