You know what?

Brothers Bloom

Somewhere...there is progress.

I am the sort of man who writes because he has made progress, and who makes progress by writing. - St. Augustine

Music and Victor Hugo

Music expresses that which can not be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

~Victor Hugo

I think he would approve of the musical.

Essay winners will be announced tomorrow. :-)

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Word by Word

What I have in advance are people I want to write about and a problem or problems that I see those people encountering and that I want to explore - it all proceeds sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and scene by scene.

~Chaim Potok

In which Erin makes me the perfect journal!

In case you didn't know already... I love Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

I'm not sure when we first met, but it was a long time ago.

I know he was iffy on some theology points and we don't know exactly where he landed, but he was extremely smart and knew how to write things that stick in my head. I just think he was amazing.

Awhile ago I approached Hesed Books and Gifts about sponsoring a giveaway. Not only has Erin donated two amazing journals coupled with gift cards for future giveaways, she custom made me this perfect journal!

This quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer has always been a reminder to me-

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

~ From The Cost of Discipleship

Considering the life that Bonhoeffer lived and how he died, this is very powerful.

These journals are awesome. They make the perfect gifts for all sort of people. Their thin so they fit in my purse or in-between the crowded books on my desk. The paper doesn't have lines so I can write as well as diagram. :-)

It contains 20 blank pages (so 40 front and back), has rounded corners, and a cover of recycled content cardstock. The design and colors are awesome. It measures 4.25"x5.5 and has eyelets to attach gift tags, ribbon, or a lanyard to the outside.

What makes me just totally love this shop is the custom designing. I can't believe I actually have a Dietrich Bonhoeffer journal with my favorite quote! :-)

You can see Erin's already made journals here. They only cost $4.75. :-)

I'll be doing a Shakespeare and custom made C.S. Lewis journal giveaway from Hesed Books and Gifts soon. Each journal will also have a gift certificate to Erin's amazing shop.

Here are a couple more Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes that have influenced me...

I've been thinking about this one a lot recently-

We have learned a bit too late in the day that action springs not from thought but from a readiness for responsibility.

~From Letters and Papers from Prison

I think that actually applies to a lot of life.

The believer is neither a pessimist nor an optimist. To be either is illusory. The believer sees reality not in a certain light but as it is and believes only in God and God's power towards all and overall that is seen.

~From No Rusty Swords

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Vivid

Virtue is not the absense of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell.

~G. K. Chesterton

Tearing

I'd heard this quote before, but I finally read it in context on Sunday.

....Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words.

They should remain open.

Our only comfort is the God of the resurrection, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Not Immediately Pleasing to my Nature

....If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature.
But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me.
This place is the Cross of Christ. And whoever would find him must go to the foot of the Cross, as the Sermon on the Mount commands. This is not according to our name at all, it is entirely contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament…

~From a letter by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his theologically liberal brother-in-law, Rudiger Schleicher.

Running Wild with Shakespeare

I am a great advocate for quoting Shakespeare (you may have noticed).

There is one thing that is unforgivable...quoting Shakespeare out of context. This happens to every author and is somewhat unavoidable, but taking something a character says and then forgetting that it is in a play and who says it and when, is dreadful.

One example is a few lines from King Lear. I love King Lear and although it's a sad story I do not think it a completely depressing and hopeless one. The lines so frequently quoted that we are only "the play-thing of the gods" are not the final words on the matter...

The famous quote "to thy own self be true" is rarely attributed to Polonius. Polonius' speech to Laertes has always been one to puzzle me. Polonius hardly seems like a voice of wisdom in the play as a whole. Much of his advice to his children seems legitimate, but other portions just leave you wondering on what exactly Shakespeare is trying to say.

Recently I've been thinking about citing references and being careful with quotes. Poor Shakespeare has come up rather frequently.

If we think about it, this is like saying Christopher McQuarrie and and Nathan Alexander actually believe "Any problem on Earth can be solved with the careful application of high explosives." or that William Goldman actually thinks that "Australia is entirely peopled with criminals".

I think this is partly why we get confused about who's who in Shakespeare and who in the world Shakespeare actually is and what he actually believed.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Being Filled

"Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words."

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We can Boast

Christ crucified between two thieves

Rembrandt

God the Son is so utterly and completely Lord that He can enter a womb and be born as man, hunger and suffer weakness, die on a cross, and yet all the while remain wholly Himself, the living Creator of heaven and earth who needs nothing of what He has made.

To heretics who can't bring themselves to believe that God can so thoroughly identify Himself with His world and to the timid orthodox who want to maintain a buffer (however thin) between God and His creation, the orthodox answer is, Our God is great enough even for this; He is great enough even to become week, poor, empty, man. To those outside the church, who scoff at our crucified God, we can boast: "Our God can die. Can yours?"

Thus, and only thus, do we make our boast in the Lord, our Lord Jesus.

~From The Four: A Survey of the Gospels by Peter J. Leithart

Emblazon this in my memory

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

Lamentations 3:21-24

Rest in Labor

I recently came across this quote by Calvin in the O. Palmer Robertson's book I'm reading. It's been mulling about in my head for a couple days...

Sometimes God wants his servants to rest in his authority so as to labor even with no hope of success...Although our labor may be useless, it is enough that it pleases God. When we are ordered to do something, let us learn to leave the outcome in God's hand.

~John Calvin

Thanks for reading,

Miss Pickwickian

Your Affectionate Uncle

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight.

(C.S. Lewis. The Screwtape Letter.1941, p. 3)

I am going to go see Max McLean's Screwtape Letters in Portland on the 12th. I am very excited. I've been wanting to see this for a very, very long time. And before the performance I get to introduce Aisha to Portland's Powell's. They should get along quite nicely. I haven't been there for 12 1/2 months!!! Gasp. :-)

I'm sure you'll hear more about the Screwtape after we see it.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Emergencies Only?

We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it.

From The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis

Keep Persevering....

Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

~Gene Fowler

Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators
~Olin Miller

Write without pay until someone offers to pay.

~Mark Twain

Only Where God is Praised

Exalting is a part of existence.

It is so much a part of it, that when one has ceased to exalt God, something else must be exalted. Then God can be displaced by a man, an institution, an idea. Exalting remains a function of existence. World history demonstrates this.

Man must exalt something, and without such exalting there can apparently be no existence...If the praise of God, as the Psalms express it, belongs to existence, then the directing of this praise to a man, an idea, or an institution must disturb and finally destroy life itself.

The psalms say that only where God is praised is there life.

~Westermann

A Gift

This job has been given to me to do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it is a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.

~Elisabeth Elliot

Shakespeare Wisdom...

"Brevity is the soul of wit."

~Hamlet

Justice

"Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful."

~ C. S. Lewis