Ode to Good Books

Books.

They are almost human-like in their ability to arrest our interest, fill our thoughts long after the cover's closed, give us new ideas, inspire our own creativity, stretch the boundaries of our knowledge as they force us to wrestle with complicated subject matter; they carry us off to new worlds, and even comfort us when we are lonesome--for reading is really nothing more than a long conversation that cannot be heard outside our heads.

A 2010 count by Google revealed nearly 130 million individual book titles in the world today.That is a truly staggering number of written works.

I come from a long line of voracious readers. I can remember winter evenings of my childhood spent at my grandparents' house, in which the grown-ups sat around the living room reading books, papers, magazines, commentaries, etc., and we children pored over stacks of decades-old yellow-tinged comic books. All the aunts and uncles who married into this strange family quickly grew bored with the dull company. But for those of us who had the Reading Gene, such evenings were the epitome of delightful.

My family's house today has bookshelves in every room of the house (with the possible exception of the bathroom--with lots of people living in one house, bathrooms are in far too high demand to have any leisure time in there!).

I outgrew the bookcase in my bedroom, and last spring the floor in front of it was piled high with stacks of books I couldn't bring myself to dispose of. When I moved away (temporarily), the first thing we put into my new cottage was a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, which looked so roomy back in July (now it's almost full).

Why the obsession with books? Consider the statistics: After graduating from high school, ONE THIRD of adults will NEVER AGAIN read another book. After college, it's worse: 42% of college graduates will never read another book in their lifetimes. In America today, HALF of the adult population is UNABLE to read an 8th grade-level book with satisfactory comprehension. 80% of American families have not bought ONE BOOK in the past YEAR, and nearly two-thirds of the nation's population has not been inside in a book store in more than FIVE YEARS. We are a tragically ignorant nation.

But it's not that just going out and starting to read will fix the problem. Not any book will do. Much of the written material available will do more harm than good if consumed. I have friends who consider themselves avid readers, yet have consumed only from the fantasy genre for the past decade! While good fantasy has its place, a decade-long diet of it is as unhealthy as eating dessert in place of breakfast, lunch and dinner for a year. You will be unwell, imbalanced, addicted to it, and unable to appreciate other foods.

For my girls, the thirteen girls I've been praying for and writing to for nearly a year, I have been seriously thinking, planning, and praying about a decision that will take things up a notch. A big notch. We are going to reverse the trend of non-reading and frivolous reading. We are beginning to collect the Good Books of each of the following genres, and read them together. Such subjects are rarely heard of outside the classroom, but they are truly foundational if young women are to be insightful into their world, knowledgeable of its history, aware of its future, and if they are to become vital contributors and contenders in their culture. We live in an age and in a country in which ignorance is inexcusable. By the grace of God, we will make up for lost time, put away foolish reading, and instead fill our minds with only those things that spur us on to harder thinking and a deeper understanding of our Lord and His created order, that we might comprehend and appreciate His nature more, and become more useful in His hand as instruments of light on a darkened planet.

The list will change as we add to it, but for now, these are the things we deem most important with which to fill our minds. The list of book titles for each genre is also growing as we labor to compile a curriculum of only the truly Good Books.

·         Theology & Doctrine

·         Philosophy

·         Economics, Business, & Finances

·         Law & Government

·         Politics & Current Events

·         History

·         Basic Sciences

o   Biology

o   Geology

o   Geography

o   Chemistry

o   Physics

o   Mathematics

o   Geometry

o   Botany

o   Engineering

o   Astronomy

o   Ecology

o   Technology

o   Genetics

o   Anthropology

·         Medicine, Nutrition, & Health

·         Household Management

·         Culture/Art/Aesthetics

·         Music

·         Self Defense and Firearms

·         Communication, Language, & Literature

·         Trade Skills & Agriculture

50 Questions for My Future Husband

When I was a young teen, it was popular in my circle of friends to write lists of characteristics we hoped for in a husband someday. Some of our criteria was reasonable, much of it silly. After that time, I began to greatly dislike writing such lists, and I threw all mine away. I didn't like the "grocery shopping" feeling that list-writing gave me. I had experienced the uncomfortable feeling of being likened to a piece of feminine merchandise, up on the shelf next to all the other pretty church girls, so perhaps my intense dislike for petty checklists was more reactionary than it should have been. Even so, I threw out all lists, criteria, and qualifications, and thought no more about it for several years.

In the last year, I realized the practicality of having some clearly defined criteria of what things can or cannot be negotiated when finding a mate. This new appreciation came chiefly out of my dismay as I saw some friends of mine fall for and marry men that were, to put it nicely, losers. These were scrupulous, Christian girls who thought they would be strong and sensible, but had failed to plan ahead and as a result, made the biggest error of their lives.

I'm still not a fan of lists. I hate putting people into a box. I've never liked applications or surveys. But, after many weeks of thinking, praying, and revising, I came up with a list that contained only six simple, non-negotiable items, and two negotiable ones. I'm not posting it here for obvious reasons; it is customized to who I am and what things I value most in this life. It is a list meant to flag non-compatibility in life's biggest issues right from the get-go, thus averting future disaster.

Along the same line, I began thinking about what questions I would want to have answered from my future husband. Here is a list of 50 questions I came up with. I realize many are sober in nature, but wouldn't it be awful to commit your life to someone with some of these things unanswered? There are also some glaring omissions that one might consider essential--questions about salvation, etc. Those fundamental issues are covered in my first list, so are not repeated here. Write your own list of questions that would weigh on your heart until answered. I may not ever use these, but the writing of them helped me shape in my heart and mind the issues that are most important to me as I consider the rest of my life spent in service to the Lord, fully aware that the choices I make in life's biggest arenas will determine a future of either delight or disaster.

50 Questions for My Future Husband

1) If I developed a debilitating mental illness (example: schizophrenia) and became a threat to you or our children, what would you do?

2) If I was in an unresponsive coma, most likely for life, what would you do?

3) Under what circumstances would you seek to divorce me?

4) If I was unable to have children, how would you feel? What would you do?

5) If I died suddenly, what are your plans for taking care of yourself and raising our children? Would you consider remarrying?

6) What do you believe about spanking?

7) If another person was making inappropriate or flirtatious advances on me, how would you want me to go about including you and ending it?

8) What are your expectations for me to keep healthy and beautiful for you, even as my body changes with childbearing? (Weight gain/loss, stretch marks, etc)

9) How important is it to you that I wear makeup, style my hair, and dress attractively?

10) How do you feel about adoption, raising children of different ethnicities, and interracial marriage?

11) If I became disfigured through illness or injury, how would you feel and what would you do?

12) Because of my work history in the medical field, how would you feel if I was ever included in a court case or lawsuit, even years from now?

13) How would we handle the death of one of our children?

14) How will you keep yourself guarded from pornography and other sexual sins, and hold yourself accountable to me (and anyone else)?

15) How important is it to you to pray for your spouse? To pray with your spouse?

16) How important is it to you that we regularly do fun things together that we both enjoy?

17) How do you plan to fulfill your role as provider without sacrificing important time spent with your wife and family?

18) How interested or receptive will you be to making any lifestyle or dietary changes in an effort to make ourselves healthier?

19) What constitutes a “major purchase,” and at what amount of money should both spouses be consulted before a purchase is made?

20) What are your views on credit cards? How do you feel about debt? How much debt are you willing to carry, and for what reasons?

21) What are your views on contraception? Under what circumstances would you consider preventing conception for a time?

22) How important is it to you to have money to spend on your hobbies and interests?

23) How important is it to you that I keep a clean, organized home?

24) Under what circumstances would you be willing to be apart from me and our children for an extended period of time (mission trip, etc.)?

25) How do you plan to implement spiritual leadership in our home, and what can I do to help set up a family discipleship plan that works for us?

26) What do you think about spouses having separate email or social networking accounts?

27) When was a time I’ve ever embarrassed you by my speech, dress, behavior, or other conduct?

28) Have I ever made you feel uncomfortable by how I interact with other men?

29) How should we manage holidays and birthdays with both sides of our family?

30) What is the thing that I might do that would hurt or damage you the most?

31) What kind of secret is justified in being withheld from a spouse?

32) What should I do if I think you’re irritated or angry at something I’ve said or done?

33) How should we use and manage electronic devices and media consumption in our home?

34) How are we going to manage the internet in our home?

35) What will we do if you and I hold differing viewpoints on some Bible doctrines?

36) What would make me unattractive or undesirable to you?

37) What will we do for our parents in their older years when they need care and can no longer live alone?

38) What would you change about me, if you could?

39) What attracted you to me the most?

40) What are you most afraid of?

41) How do you feel about displays of physical affection in public? How much is too much?

42) How do you feel about women speaking up and contributing in church?

43) How would we help if one of our siblings fell on hard financial times?

44) What makes you angry?

45) What gives you the most joy?

46) How do you plan to be involved in the home-schooling of our children?

47) How do you feel about the use of slang, popular catch-phrases, sarcasm, and other irreverent or casual speech in our home?

48) What are your thoughts on owning pets or livestock?

49) How do you understand your role in carrying out the Great Commission with your God-given gifts and 

personality? 

50) What is your love language (the best way for me to communicate my love for you)?

Saved So Young

Hello, dear girls! [This is Day #150 of emailing daily, by the way!]

Tonight I'm reading from Psalm 69-71.

"O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
¹⁸ So even to old age and gray hairs,
    O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come."

You and I have the immense privilege of being raised in Christian homes and having been saved early in life. If only we fully understood and appreciated the years of grief we've been spared by having such a wonderful start! It is, of course, not a default that we can just "coast along" through life on our parents' coattails of faith; no, we have to sweat and bleed and work and feel the pain of claiming the cross of Christ as our own. At the end of the day, it is each of us, alone, in the Colosseum, dared to deny our Lord. No wimpy church-camp religion here, girls. But at the same time, we have been given the gift of a Lamp to our paths so early in the journey, the right Word of truth to guide us from all lies--think of all those people out stumbling in the world, unable to discern truth from error, unsure of which way is right, weak and unfit for any battle! What a long road they have. And those who are saved later in life, after sowing seeds of sin in their earlier years, they reap the grievous harvest not only in this life, but the next: think of the spouses or children who will not be among the redeemed. Entire families who turn against the one believer and persecute their own kin with a vengeance (think of the Christians who come to the truth amidst a system like Islam!). Their lives are hard.

Be grateful for what you have been given--a faith that claimed you while you were so young, and a life that stretches out before you, even into your silver-haired years, a life of joyful submission, service, freedom, comfort and assurance beneath the banner of the salvation of God through Jesus Christ. Use this gift wisely, and do not waste your young years in comfort and indifference. Spend them stocking up on spiritual wisdom and knowledge, cultivating the fruits of the Spirit, and learning more and more about the character of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. Then go out into the fields, which are white for harvest. Be strong. Strengthen yourselves, not bodily, for the body is wasting away and growing older only to die and decay, but rather strengthen yourselves spiritually--for your soul shall not die, but live eternally in the presence of the great and wondrous King! Gloria!

Living in Limbo

I had to stay home last weekend while my family went to a conference about homeschooling and family discipleship. I wanted to go, but alas, a major, 160 question, nerve-wracking exit nursing examination was scheduled smack in the middle of it, so I couldn't go. They came home on Sunday, beaming. Inspired. Renewed. Excited. And with bag-fulls of new books and audio lectures.

They came home filled with hope to see that there are still people left in the world who love the LORD their God with all of their hearts, souls, and minds, and teach their children to love His law as well. It was good that they went.

I, however, have been in a bit of a rut. Perhaps "stalemate" would be a better word. Not afraid, not discouraged, not frustrated--I can't pinpoint it. Worn out? Burned out? Wishing the future would hurry up and pan out so I could see how things will settle? Needing more sleep? Or, all of the above.

I want to plant a garden. But, should I bother if I won't be here to tend it? The two sheep need to be sheared. Where will I store the wool if this isn't the year I can learn to spin? I have too many horses. Which ones should I sell before I move in a mere ten weeks? Who will want them anyway? When will I find time to trim the goats' hooves? And, the "check engine" light came on in my car and it started rattling. And, we have to squeeze in a post-graduation barbecue somewhere in the 24 hours before two of our guys head to Alaska for a commercial fishing season. So much to do. Plans are a-whirling. Everything's jumbled up.

In the midst of the hum, I hear, "Be still." And know that I am God.

Yes, yes. I will. I have forgotten to be still. I have forgotten to cultivate contented joy with the flurry of each day, learning to live in this limbo land of not-quite-jelled plans. They will become clear in time, in His time, when it is right to reveal them to me. It is hard to be still when pulled in a thousand directions, hard to dim the buzzing world out and think about Him. Talk to Him. Ponder what He says. Tune for His pull on the heart.

And be still.

Standing in the Sun

Today was one of those quintessentially spring-ish days. Every year I fall in love with spring more and more, and it is a bit of a sorrow to me that the last five years--including this one--have found me mired in school work and unable to run outside, fling open my arms to the sun, smell the damp dirt and kiss my little goats' furry faces at every chance. But, in a way, the obligatory leash of The Nursing Program (yes, capitalized) has made me behold with a fresh wonder the glory of this time of year, particularly today, as I strain against the cord of annotated bibliography assignments. I lean out my second story window, take out the screen, and close my eyes as the bamboo wind chimes sing in the garden and the shaggy orchard grass glows in the last slanting rays of the sun. And I think, in this life, this quick, spinning, brief life, what more could there be than to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God? (Micah 6:8)

I woke up this morning from a deep, good, sweet sleep, and I awoke with the startling realization that my life is magnificently blessed. Who am I to be the receiver of a life so charmed? My parents are still married, and actually love each other (29 years and counting!). My one sister (of whom I am jealously protective) is six years into one of the most blessed marriages I've had the privilege of watching. My four younger brothers (whom I love with dreadful fierceness) are rising up, growing into the kinds of men who cast off the shabby farce of weak-minded manhood, instead asking hard questions and seeking true answers--a search that is changing them from boys to warriors before my eyes. My niece (2 years old) and nephew (4 weeks old) thrive and grow in a pure, earnest home with a mama and a papa who fear God and love his commandments.

And then there is me.

Somewhere in the middle of this bustling mini-universe that is our family, there is a 22 year old woman standing in the light of the Son, and it blinds me sometimes, when I turn my face into His glory. I'm walking, as we all are walking, and I see the junction just ahead. It's fast approaching, and when I get there, this road ends where a thousand others begin, and I'll have to pick one or stand forever on the sidewalk, watching the traffic rush by. But, it's so hard to choose. In two months I'll be done with nursing school. The pursuit that ate up the end of my teen years and launched me solidly into my twenties, forever out of childhood and into adulthood, will be over, and I'll have to move on--maybe literally.

You see, in my hometown, which is rather small and out-of-the-way, there aren't many (if any) jobs for new nurses. Quite frankly, it's just a bad time to be graduating from nursing school. Five years ago would have been a lot better. Five years from now it may be again--but I'm in the slump years, and I know it was meant to be so. I know He has not forgotten me. I know the joy of the LORD is my strength, and that I am doing this not for a good job or a paycheck or to impress anybody by having the "RN" letters behind my name, but I am doing this so that I may be of greater service to my Lord, wherever and whenever and however He should choose to use me. And if he never uses this profession, this skill set that is "nursing" which I have learned (though the thought is hard to swallow at the moment), I will not insist on using it. If He closes every door that I have knocked upon, I know it is because He knows better than I. Doors have already closed to me; even this afternoon I could scratch out another possibility on my list of hopefuls. And, for the first time, there is the possibility that I might have to leave all that I love and move away to find a job as a nurse, which brings me to some serious introspection: is it worth it? What is the point of what I'm doing? How much will I shell out in the name of Nursing? And, more importantly, it drives me into the Living Word to see what God is telling me to do, especially when each plan and sub-plan of mine are gently and firmly shut down.

But here is something surprising: as much as I hope for such-and-such opportunity to work out, and as much as I pursue it diligently, fill out the necessary applications and present myself as best I can, I have found an abiding equilibrium in knowing that it is He who ordains the future, and it is He who will orchestrate my life into a pleasing symphony of praise. When I get the letter, or answer the phone and receive the message of rejection (and I have, several times), it gets easier with each one--which is ironic, considering that rejection is generally depressing. But I am standing in the sun today; it warms and cheers my body, and I stand in the Son every day; He warms and cheers my soul. Being rejected has become almost exciting; I get to say, "Well, that wasn't it, was it, Lord?" And I smile, both in trust and bewilderment.

In the meantime, not knowing what the remaining year holds, and not even knowing where I will be in eight weeks, I'm surprised by His peace that allows me to notice and delight in the piano's muted arpeggios as the boys practice their music downstairs, the winter pear tree by the garden gate that just burst into a snowy froth of blossoms, and the delectable smell of the waffles some good soul is making for dinner. All is well when one walks humbly, trustingly, and quietly before the LORD of heaven and earth.