Having survived the laundry

and spent a week back in the groove, I can now write about our post-Christmas trip and family reunion in Branson, MO. There were twenty-one of us—sisters, brother-in-law, nephews, mother, aunt and uncle, cousins— staying in three houses on the beautiful 40-acre wooded property of Tall Pines. The best new experience: relaxing in the outdoor hot tub with snow falling all around. The worst new experience: driving twisty mountain roads in dark fog.

In town, I picked up the 100th anniversary copy of Harold Bell Wright’s The Shepherd of the Hills, which is apparently quite famous and what stirred up people’s interest in developing the Branson area around the turn of the last century. At least that’s what the man at the Toy Museum told us. He also told us that this book inspired former President Ronald Reagan to become a Christian. Anyway. After wandering through case after case of model cars and Star Wars figures and toy guns and way too many familiar childhood toys that are now, apparently, antiques, we found the Harold Bell Wright part of the museum, which houses some of his old furniture and several manuscript copies of his books. Were it not for Princess Two tugging me along, I would have spent more time here. Along with the manuscripts were large cards with typed commentary from Wright himself, describing his writing process, as well as period advertisements for the published works. An interesting glimpse into the business of writing in days long gone by.

Part of our reunion involved a belated Christmas exchange of gifts, and I received two more books (my family knows me well): Reflections on the Psalms, by C. S. Lewis, and Joseph Plumb Martin’s A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier. So now I have an even larger cozy stack of books to read by the fire.

Speaking of reading, I finished Margaret Frazer’s The Reeve’s Tale, and found it decent though not wow reading. I had trouble getting attached to any of the characters. But then I have been spoiled, as far as mysteries go, by Ellis Peters and Dorothy L. Sayers. Last night I started Robin Paige’s Death at Blenheim Palace, hoping…

Solstice

Yesterday’s being the winter solstice, our family held our second annual Solstice Party. After supper we turned off everything requiring electricity (er, except for the furnace and the Christmas CDs), lit as many candles as I could find (quite a few), and started a roaring fire in the family room. Then all five of us played card games and board games until we couldn’t agree on the next game to play. We finished up with a reading of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke.

If I do say so myself, despite the protests at having to put aside the handheld electronic games (some of them still very new since my son’s birthday last week), everyone had a good time. There is something primevally satisfying about fighting the darkness as a family, all together in one room. And when I went to bed last night, I realized that Princess Two had gotten her wish of having a little more snow on the first day of winter. It is still snowing this morning.

Thirty-nine: Almost there!

Sometimes it’s interesting to look at the paradoxes in life, even in our own personalities. What complicated critters we are, as is the world in which we live. Today I’m having fun juxtaposing quotations that reveal some of those complexities and seeming paradoxes.

28. “So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

—Matthew 6:31–33 (NIV)

29. Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

—Thomas A. Edison

30. “[W]hoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”

—Matthew 20:26–27 (NIV)

31. Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.

—Samuel Johnson

32. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

—Matthew 16:25 (NIV)

33. In our great hall there stood a vacant chair,
Fashion’d by Merlin ere he past away,
…………………………………………………..
And Merlin call’d it “The Siege perilous,”
Perilous for good and ill; “for there,” he said,
“No man could sit but he should lose himself:”
And once by misadvertence Merlin sat
In his own chair, and so was lost; but he,
Galahad, when he heard of Merlin’s doom,
Cried, “If I lose myself, I save myself!”

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from “The Holy Grail”

Thirty-nine: 10-12

Today I continue “39 for my 39th” with some quotes related to faith.

10. She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
…..
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
—Proverbs 31:25, 30

11. Admire and adore the Author of the telescopic universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend.
—John Adams

12. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
—Galatians 5:22

No poetry for the situation

I know today is Poetry Friday. I have no poem.

For today was also the funeral of a young woman from our church. I say “young”—she was 38 years old, my age. She leaves her husband, parents, other family, friends; and my heart aches for them all.

I looked for a poem. I found John Donne’s sonnet on the death of his young wife, which begins with the lines

Since she whom I loved hath paid her last debt
To Nature, and to hers, and my good is dead,
And her soul early into heaven ravished,
Wholly on heavenly things my mind is set.

I found Tennyson’s “In Memoriam A. H. H.,” which includes the lines

Forgive my grief for one removed,
Thy creature, whom I found so fair.
I trust he lives in thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.

I found others, too, but none seemed right. Death was in them, grieving was in them, yet for me they were just words.

But being a writer and a reader, I can’t help reaching for words. In due time, I found the right ones. I found them at the funeral, the words of Christ Jesus to his disciples:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”