i just found out the dead sea scrolls are on display in raleigh... (most of you may already know this, but i've been out of circulation for a while!) i totally want to go see them! how fascinating!
after dinner tonight, i was sharing this exciting news with curtis while walking away from him to put something away. what i said was, "hey, curtis, guess what? the dead sea scrolls are on display in raleigh." what meg, who was doing her homework in the kitchen, heard was, "hey, curtis, guess what? the dead sea squirrels are on display in raleigh." it ellicted shocked exclaimations of, "WHAT DEAD SEA SQUIRRELS??!!" kyra quickly joined in... "there are dead sea squirrels?!?"
admittedly, we've had several dead, waterlogged squirrels in our families history... not so much a lot of ancient scriptures inscribed on parchment...
a tiny, blonde-ish spider has built a web under & along the side of one of the small knicknacks in my bathroom. i don't have the heart to kill it, or the energy to save it. so each time i wash my hands, i carefully avoid knocking into it, and watch it sit there with it's tiny spider optimism that a fly small enough to get caught in it's very, very tiny web will one day materialize in my bathroom, make its way toward the sink, and sure enough, bumble its way into death. i am cheering for the spider, really. but not very optimistic about it's chances. maybe i will get kyra to set it free, perhaps delicately placing the knicknack outside on the porch rail. i will miss it.
i am not a patient girl, and there is much that is "going slowly" and "slow going" in my life these days. i try to put one foot in front of the other, but my heart is not entirely in it. so if my blog also seems slow, i ask for your indulgence.
for now, i leave you with this from my current reading.
"... Almighty God, are you true?
when you are standing up to your neck in darkness, how do you say yes to that question? you say yes, i suppose, the only way faith can ever say it if it is honest with itself. you say yes with your fingers crossed. you say it with your heart in your mouth. maybe that's the way we can say yes."
how can a real animal look so beautifully cartoonish? i want to hear it speak to me...
how much do i love the painting in yesterday's post? if i were a rich girl...
i first came across this quote a couple years ago, but it was in some recent reading i was doing, and i was reminded of how much i love it. not just for what it has to say about communion, but, read in a broader way, what it has to say about Jesus himself, and the way he meant for us to experience his life in our own.
"unfermented grape juice is a bland and pleasant drink, especially on a warm afternoon mixed half-and-half with ginger ale. it is a ghastly symbol of the life blood of Jesus Christ, especially when served in individual antiseptic, thimble-sized glasses.
wine is booze, which means it is dangerous and drunk making. it makes the timid brave and the reserved armorous. it looses the tongue and breaks the ice especially when served in a loving cup. it kills germs. as symbols go, it is a rather splendid one."
