Pursue the Beauty!
beauty in pain, faith through sufferingLife in the Center
Our lives have grown too complex and overcrowded. Even the necessary obligations that we feel we must meet grow overnight, like Jack’s beanstalk, and before we know it we are bowed down with burdens, crushed under committees, strained, breathless, and hurried, panting through a never ending program of appointments. WE are too busy to be good wives to our husbands, good homemakers, good companions of our children, good friends to our friends and the list goes on. We are weary and breathless. Civic duties call our name. Needs abound and good causes are everywhere making us feel guilty. But as we begin to try and be involved in those good causes our dearest and closest ones to us suffer from our lack of attention to them and to those things that in our home we have been called to do as first priority.
We tend to think our great problems are external, environmental. We are not skilled in the inner life where the real roots of our problem lie. For I would suggest that the true explanation of the complexity of our program is an inner one, not an outer one. The outer distractions of our interests reflect an inner lack of integration of our own lives. We are trying to be several selves at once, without all of our selves being organized by a single mastering life within us. We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed and fearaful we shall be shallow. For over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living that we know we are passing by. Strained by the very mad pace of our daily outer burdens, we are further strained by an inward uneasiness, because we have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existsnce, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that Center.
Jana’s Books
“The 50 Best Ways to Simplify Your Life” was sitting on a bookshelf of a family I babysit for. Loved what I saw at a glance, so I quickly put it on my Paperbackswap.com list! (which, if you haven’t heard of, is one of the best ways to get new reading material!) It’s just what the title describes: packed with a whole host of ways to simplify everything from schedule, family life, relationships, finances, etc.
For the second title, I actually saw the movie “Plain Truth” a year or so ago, and found it intriguing. Picked up a used copy of the book at a library sale for 50 cents and decided to read it. I’ve only read one other title by Jodi Picoult, “My Sister’s Keeper”. Very thought provoking and powerful. Not sure I’d recommend it to everyone, though.
And “The Birth Order Book” was lent to me by another family I babysit for. Nothing fabulous yet.
Natalie’s Reading and To Read stacks
I’m enjoying your submissions, girls. To see a list of all of them, go to the “click here” link at the bottom of the introductory post. For now, here is my contribution. I’ll comment briefly on why each book is in my stacks. (Click pictures for larger views.)
Reading
Like most of you, I am reading a lot at one time. From the bottom up I have a Bible study I do off and on, a book on Christianity and the arts (one of the only ones out there), and my beloved The Divine Hours which begins, interludes, and closes my day with Scripture, prayers, and beauty. Next we have Facing East by the brilliant Frederica on her year in the Orthodox church, and the final book in trilogy of twenties-something fiction by a friend of mine. I think it’s always nice to have a “fun” book to pick up occasionally. I’m not very far into Piece yet but it looks worth the read–and it is very hard for me to find fiction I like. So that’s my current lot. But I already have quite a few lined up to take their places.
To-Read
Bottom of the pile is my next “fun” book: Karen Hancock’s newest. I thought the first book on her “Legends of the Guardian King” was brilliant. Next are three books recommended to me by a mentor. One on anger, one on grace, and one the story of a woman with mental illness, more specifically bipolar disorder. After that we have a book by Protestant-turned-Catholic priest John Michael Talbot. His writing on Simplicity was a must-read since I am studying everything I can on that and beauty. Finally is Stronger Than You Think which, from the little I’ve read, needs to be read to be understood. I won’t even attempt a summary.
So what are you reading? Show us!
Jaclynn’s Books
Jaclynn’s contribution to the mini-Quest on what you are reading…
My reading or just-read stack of books
My to-read stack of books
“See what I’m reading”
Here’s a miniature, fun Quest for you all. All you need is a camera. I want everyone to take two different pictures and either post them on your blog linking to this post or email them to me and I’ll post them here.
There is one rule: No “doctoring” the photos. By that I mean, show us what you are really reading, not what you think would look more spiritual or intellectual. You don’t need to show just the exact book you have most recently picked up. Show the pile or shelf where you have the stack of books you are reading here and there. I know you all have 3-10 books in that stack.
The second picture is a stack of books you want to be reading. Again, no need to be spiritual. 
Remember to take the picture in such a way so we can read the titles of the books.
“Here’s what I am reading.”
“Here’s what I want to read.”
Deadline: December 31, 2009
Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…
Virtuous Maid
Originally published April 21, 2008
Addressed to a Young Lady
Sweet stream that winds through yonder glade,
Apt emblem of a virtuous maid -
Silent and chaste she steals along,
Far from the world’s gay busy throng;
With gentle, yet prevailing force
Intent upon her destined course;
Graceful and useful all she does,
Blessing and bless’d where’ere she goes,
Pure-bosom’d as that wat’ry glass,
And Heav’n reflected in her face.
- Cowper
Painting by John William Waterhouse
A lyric from my grandfather
My grandfather flew up from Texas this past weekend and was a huge help and support to me. He sent me this song when he returned home and i wanted to share it as I am sure many of you can relate. We feel weak so often. We’ve nothing left to do but beg the Lord for His merciful help.
Beauty of peace
Drop thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease
Take from our souls the strain and stress
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace
Joy in darkness
The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen pages 113-117
God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, nor because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because one of his children who was lost has been found. What I am called to is to enter into that joy….
I am not accustomed to rejoicing in things that are small, hidden, and scarcely noticed by the people around me…somehow I have become accustomed to living with sadness, and so have lost the eyes to see the joy and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God and which is to be found in the hidden corners of the world….
I have to learn to “steal” all the real joy there is to steal and lift it up for others to see. Yes, I know that not everybody has been converted yet, that there is not yet peace everywhere, that all pain has not yet been taken away, but still, I see people turning and returning home; I hear voices that pray; I notice moments of forgiveness, and I witness many signs of hope. I don’t have to wait until all is well, but I can celebrate every little hint of the Kingdom that is at hand.
This is a real discipline. It requires choosing for the light even when there is much darkness to frighten me, choosing for life even when the forces of death are so visible, and choosing for the truth even when I am surrounded with lies. I am tempted to be so impressed by the obvious sadness of the human condition that I no longer claim the joy manifesting itself in many small but very real ways. The reward of choosing joy is joy itself….
People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. They claim that the light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself and that a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness…every moment of each day I have the chance to choose between cynicism and joy….that divine joy does not obliterate the divine sorrow.
