The husband has been teaching Harper to play chess. She, in turn, has been teaching Hudson to play "chess". She was showing him how to set up the board:
Harper: Okay, this is the good king, and this is the knight, and this is the bad king and..
Hudson: Where is Jesus?
Where is Jesus, indeed. Come to think of it, has anyone ever come up with a Christian chess set? Seems like that might work nicely, what with all the emperors and shepherds and wise men and sword-wielding disciples. And I'll bet you it would sell like gangbusters at the Christian bookstore. They could put it right between those prints of George Washington bowing down before the cross and the Test-a-mints.
I consider it one of my great failings as a mother (so far) that I do things for my children instead of taking the time to teach them to do for themselves. I'm trying to work on it but it gets to the heart of the Great Tension Within Me, which is that I am the rather lethal combination of A Lazy Perfectionist. It's like there are two voices going in my head at any given moment, one of them sneering, "Is THAT the BEST you can do??" and the other (this voice is a kindly, old British woman for some reason) saying, "Well, then, best go take a wee nap." It's exhausting, as you can imagine. Even after I take my nap.
I am reading two books at the same time and they couldn't be more different, yet I'm enjoying both of them (hm, another example of my split personality?). One is a fairly new biography of Deitrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas, titled (and subtitled, and subtitled again) Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. The Third Reich
. It is currently 4 days overdue and I should, therefore, turn it in tomorrow, which means I need to read approximately 400 pages before I go to bed tonight. Hm. Perhaps I will break my rule of No More Buying Books Because When We Move The Books Become An Albatross About My Neck. As an aside, there are many, many things about grand fancy houses that do not appeal to me one bit, but the thought of having my very own library in my very own house from which I will never have to move seems heavenly. And I do not use that word lightly. Anyway, the other book is Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr, who is particularly interesting to me because she graduated from my high school 15 years before I did. Our dads both worked at an oil refinery, but that seems to be the extent of our common experience. Lit is her memoir of her journey through alcoholism, and it's a compelling story, compellingly told. Sad, but ultimately she finds her way out. Out of Port Neches AND out of alcohol. And into the Catholic church, apparently, but I'm not quite there yet.
My sweet Aunt Sue died a week ago today. She was my mom's big sister and she called me "Pooh" even after I grew up. She made extraordinarily good turkey and cornbread dressing. She loved her family well. She told good stories and loved to laugh. As I pondered my lingering sadness this morning before communion, I realized anew that the deaths of those we love is so agonizing not just because we miss them, but because we simply were not made to die. We were made for eternity and communion. Not for death and separation. C.S. Lewis writes that fish do not complain of the sea for being wet. We have the curse (the gift?) to recognize we are strangers here (in reverent fear). The sea is wet, and we are cold and weary with the swim.
So. I'm off to Bonhoeffer. True fellowship, true community, radical theology and oh, by the way, we need to kill Hitler. The sea is WET.
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4 comments:
I think I star most of your posts to return to later in order to read aloud to my husband. You're such a gifted writer. Truly.
Prayers for your family as you mourn the loss of your aunt.
Chrys
I agree with Chrys: you are GIFTED!
I'm so sorry about your Aunt Sue, but I really appreciated how you tied it into C.S. Lewis' words. So much truth there.
Interesting that you wrote about your children learning to play chess. My next post (if all goes as I plan) will be about my David playing chess. What's that they say about great minds? ;-)
I again must compliment you on this post. Really great reading here, and so enjoyed your tie-in to C.S. Lewis.
I envy your reading. I'm in a slump. I got bogged down in a boring book - Duty: a little history and a lot of slog - which has impacted all other reading, which currently consists of Bittersweet (two short chapters to go), and Miz Lil and the Chronicles of Grace by Walter Wangerin. I'm throwing my energy into the newspaper, of all things, which merely goes into the recycle bin at day's end.
I met a lady at my church from PN, who knew Lecia (is that the right spelling for Mary's sister?), and nodded emphatically when I mentioned Mary. But never got a read on what she thought...although I vaguely recall her saying something like, "You would have never known."
Looking forward to your final impressions of both books.
What I find shocking is that there are not more published authors that were raised in PN and the general Mid-County area. I sometimes refer to it as the Cradle of Literature.
Your thoughts on death were very insightful. It explains the groaning.
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