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There’s no app for that
I got in the elevator today in my apartment building to head to the office. I live on the eighth floor, but on the seventh floor the elevator stopped and an older man got in, carrying a tan leather bag and wearing a green coat.
I had pulled out my iPhone when I got into the elevator because I was expecting an email from a co-worker and hoping it would come before I got on the subway and lost reception. But by the fourth floor, my elevator companion said, “I hate to even ask this, but: are you addicted?” He nodded toward the sleek little device in my hand.
Faithful Wounds
Over at The Millions (which is rapidly becoming my favorite book review on the web, partially because I can – cough – get it on my Kindle and read it underground), Deena Drewis writes in defense of editors. Notably, she talks about the now-infamous relationship between Raymond Carver and his editor, Gordon Lish. Most American high schoolers read a story or two of Carver’s, and Robert Altman turned a bunch of them into the film Short Cuts. But of course, we find out posthumously that most of Carver’s famous endings and marvelously terse prose is largely due to Lish’s hand, which some argue is overbearing.
I sit on both sides of the writer and editor fence. On the one hand, wearing my writer hat, I’m constantly turning pieces into editors. I am incredibly grateful when a good editor gives feedback or slashes away at my article, turning it into something better, because I have come at this writing thing rather sideways and don’t really know how to do it well – yet.
I want a job and I want it now: Careerism on the rise
“In 1971, 37 percent [of incoming freshmen] responded that it was essential or very important to be ‘very well-off financially,’ while 73 percent said the same about ‘developing a meaningful philosophy of life.’ In 2009, the values were nearly reversed: 78 percent identified wealth as a goal, while 48 percent were after a meaningful philosophy.” ~ The New York Times, “Making College ‘Relevant’”
I sat on the couch with my wife last night and watched “Rethinking Happiness,” a PBS special hosted by Harvard University’s Dan Gilbert. The freshmen statistics above came to mind when Gilbert confirmed that money does bring happiness. But what if the quest to accumulate that money turns the college years into a narrow exercise in careerism?
Why Are You Hurrying?
While vacationing at the New Jersey shore one year, my father suggested we take a day trip to a nearby botanical garden. A bit skeptical at first (Jersey offers botanical gardens?) the rest of my family eventually acquiesced. We’re so glad we did. While rolling through paths of exquisite and brilliant flowers and trees, we stumbled upon this sign (right) nailed to a tree: Why Are You Hurrying? Though a bit odd to encounter such signage in the middle of a wooded path, it was a sweet reminder to all of us: pay attention. Notice the little things. Don’t miss the bright climbing lilacs or the strangely formed sugar maple. Pay attention to the patches of honeysuckle and the rich-smelling peonies. Don’t rush through; instead, pause. Breathe. Pay attention.
In a culture that has seemingly made “busyness” a virtue, I struggle to slow down. But if the spiritual life is all about paying attention (Simone Weil), then we must stop hurrying…or we’ll miss it. There’s a big difference between slowing down and being lazy. In fact, the “hush, not rush” approach to life (as poet, Luci Shaw puts it) may mean getting up an hour early so we have time to slow down. It’s about a quietness of spirit that allows us to let go of our anxiety and tarrying in order to see things (in ourselves, others, and the world around us) we may not have otherwise noticed. The non-hurried life also makes room for us to ask good questions as well as entertain them with humility and hospitality.
The Sacredness of Questioning Everything?
Perhaps you’ve heard it said that your time in college should be about learning to ask the right questions, not necessarily a time to find the right answers. While I do think there is a time for settling in on answers to big questions, I also like the main thrust of that statement. College is about wrestling with questions and not being afraid to challenge previously help positions. I’ve been in a few Christian circles that viewed questioning negatively. I can understand the concern, questioning can be disorienting, but I’m not sure God wants us to hold back. We were given minds to think, thinking honors our creator, and thinking involves questioning.
For another online publication, I had the privilege of interviewing author and 2010 Jubilee speaker David Dark about his most recent book, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything. It’s an interesting book, to say the least. What follows are a few questions about the book (you can read the entire interview here) that I hope lead to even more questions at Jubilee!
A Gift from Jubilee
Happy New Year from Jubilee! We’ve posted Gabe Lyons (co-author of unChristian and founder of the Fermi Project and the Q Conference) talk from Jubilee 2009 online for free! Enjoy and feel free to pass this along to people who you think might be interested! Also, we’re happy to announce a $20 discount to readers of this blog for the next two weeks! Just type in “livingjubilee” as the discount code and get $20 off your Jubilee registration. Happy New Year!
Seeing Everything Anew
It was just a week ago that most of us sang Christmas carols. One of the most enduring is Joy to the World. I sang it as a child and into my college years until I really heard one line. One line–a line that has been as helpful to me as nearly anything I’ve heard about the meaning and scope of Christ’s redemption. I will never forget the time the “lights came on” and I had a glimmer of the far-ranging truth of that one holiday verse.
Interestingly, it happened one hot summer afternoon when some of us were in a class with Dr. Albert Wolters, author of Creation Regained, learning about a Christian worldview, and how to help college students relate their deepest convictions about Christ and His Lordship to the theories and subjects in the university classroom. That fascinating word, worldview, is used to explain that Christian faith is not only a matter of inward piety, not only a system of theological truths, not only a matter of being dedicated a follower of Jesus. Although personal spirituality, proper doctrine and a serious commitment to obey Christ are indeed vital aspects of Christian discipleship, these must also be allowed to shape our very perception of who we are and how we see reality. That is, a worldview is like a pair of glasses, that color, tint, make clear (or unclear if they aren’t proper) whatever it is we are looking at.
Put Yourself in the Way of the Gift
One of my favorite novels is Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Set in the 1950s on an Iowa prairie plain, it’s a story in the form of letters penned by the seventy-six year old Reverend John Ames to his very young son. When the minister discovers he’s dying, he begins to write about the things he must tell his son: his present, his past, his namesake, his faith.
In one of the letters the father says, “It all means more than I can tell you. So you must not judge what I know by what I find words for…But I hope you will put yourself in the way of the gift.” Though prior to this point he talks about the church building and other external things, here the Reverend speaks of something much deeper. By encouraging his son to put [him]self in the way of the gift, he’s telling him to position himself in the posture of receiving. And the gift is not something external; it’s not a present like one we may find under the Christmas tree tomorrow. Nor is the gift a talent, like the gift preaching or ministering. The gift is a profound and beautiful thing to receive, and from his words, it seems like something easy to miss.