Part Two

Book Tag and Linkage

Well, Veronika tagged me, so I suppose I’ll be compliant and post on books.

Who is your favorite author and why?
This is definitely in the top 10 worst questions ever. It’s somewhere in between ”What’s your favorite book?” and “So, you’re at college this year…you must be so glad to be free from your family, aren’t you?” (I’m the oldest of 9 kids, and absolutely love it) which is right above “So, what are you doing on Friday night?” I could not choose a favorit author, so I shall give you a nice long list of some of my favorites. And it will be in no way exhaustive. After all, I’m an English major…

Elisabeth Elliot, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, Christina Rossetti, George Herbert, Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters (especially Charlotte, though), Victor Hugo, John Piper, Amy Carmichael, C.J. Mahaney, J.I. Packer, George Eliot, Edmund Spenser, the Brownings, Chaim Potok, Scott, Tozer, Tennyson… and I could keep going, but I’d bore you to tears. *smiles*

Who was your first favorite author and why?
My first favorite author, eh? *thinks* Probably Laura Ingalls Wilder. I have many a fond memory of curling up in a big brown chair with Dad and falling asleep as he read the Little House series aloud.

Who is the newest addition to your favorite authors and why?

My latest finds (again, plural, for I cannot bear to leave someone out) are T.S. Eliot and George Herbert. Introduced to them by the infamous Dr. Brown in Brit Lit this year, between her efforts and those of my Renaissance Lit prof, I fell head over heels for these gentlemen and their writings. Herbert was a metaphysical poet, and thus used very complex verse form. He was also a pastor, and his poems are almost entirely devotional/meditational. Eliot, on the other hand, can be seen as depressing and obscure, but that’s because he wrote in such a way that his poems are dense with allusions and references to other literature and trivia and songs and historical events. With the help of good footnotes and a good scholar to pester with questions, he’s very intruiging and profound. I particularly love his Four Quartets, which in a way, narrates his spiritual pilgrimage.  I’m now a poetry nerd. Thanks, Drs. Harvey and Brown!

Linkage

In case you didn’t see this already, I’m writing a guest series on the Beauty from the Heart blog on biblical femininity. Also, my friend David Ketter is writing a parallel series on his blog, [Re]Connected, on biblical masculinity. Enjoy!

Desperate Houswife To-be?

His Will

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace:
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain:
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.

-William Cowper

If I believe this to be true about God, then I must actively fight to set my eyes on Him.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

- Prov. 3:5-6, ESV

Do I really believe that God is good and sovereign and out for my best interest and His glory? Do I really believe that He who died for me loves me as much as the cross says He does? If so, I must act like it, and not just say it. I’ve got to fling myself upon His truth and promises and wait for His will with the utterly abandoned delight of a small child trusting the good purposes of a parent to bless them.

My son, keep your father’s commandment,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching.
Bind them on your heart always;
tie them around your neck.
When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you awake, they will talk with you.
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life…

- Prov. 6: 20-23, ESV

Submission to His will is not apathy. It’s the hardest fight a wayward heart like mine can face and it takes an active devotion to Him that stubbornly refuses to swerve. And I can’t do it. But He can strengthen me for this fight. And He will be with me for it, going before me and laying forth good paths for me to walk in. Hard they may be, I know they will be good.

How much faith do you have, dear one?

All that You give me, Father.