hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all - emily dickinson

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

random things and some thoughts on faith

I'm not sure why but I love writing in italics. I also over-use punctuation (any variation of . , ! - or ...). Just putting that out there up front. So don't get annoyed by my slanty font and constant pauses for breath - you were fairly warned.


I am currently listening to "Two is Better than One" (Boys Like Girls featuring Taylor Swift) on repeat. The harmonies are great and the words are sweet. And it reminds me of one, Lauren Ferzoco (http://clairebabybutterworth.blogspot.com), because I first heard it sitting in a rental car in front of her apartment in Nashville, TN last February. And we sat there in the car with the smell of our Sonic treats filling the air while the slushy/icy/rainy mess fell all around us. I miss that girl. And so I'm listening to this song on repeat. 


You'll also notice that there's an adorable kitten at the top of this page. That's Lola :)  Expect some random stories to pop up here and there about her feline antics. She's a character, that one.


So, hi! and welcome to my blog. Where I hope that family and friends will have an easier time of keeping up with what's going on in my little corner of the world. I'm not really too consistent with catching up on the phone... and while I have good intentions and mental I-need-to-call-so-and-so lists, at best I have a 15% success rate. My other goal for this blog is to just get writing again. And thinking about real stuff. It's much too easy to get caught up in social media where words are abbreviated or limited to 140 characters (thought you can follow me on twitter, too... beckyjean14. hah).  But sometimes I feel like all the random details are short-circuiting my short-term memory. Often I'll find myself reading and come across a quote that I really want to share on facebook and then what happens? I get distracted by someone's status or picture or some other nonsense and I am off on a rabbit trail in the bookface world, my reading set aside and forgotten. And instead of remembering the awesome quote or thinking more deeply on a concept, my brain is bee-bopping around in the cyber-world. Maybe it's ironic that I'm going to try blogging since it, too, is on the interwebs. You can judge me if you want. I'm going to give it a go.


I'm probably coming on pretty strong right now seeing as how its my first post and we're already on paragraph 5. A friend mentioned once that blogs are supposed to be on the shorter side. So if you're expecting me to be concise and gather my thoughts completely, this might not be the blog for you. However, if you enjoy long, rambling, detailed accounts of things that don't matter much outside of my small world - you'll feel right at home.


Final thoughts...


I've been reading this book for the past few months - "The Signature of Jesus" by Brennan Manning. It's awesome and I've written all over the margins and probably underlined half of the text. I'm almost done and am considering immediately reading it over again. This summer has been an interesting one for me as I've been challenged in my faith and the foundations I stand on. I really appreciated what Manning shares here as he quotes Brother David Steindl-Rast in his book "Gratefulness: The Heart of Prayer" - 


In the Gospels, Scripture scholars tell us that there is not a single passage in which the Greek word for "faith" (tietis) means, strictly speaking, "beliefs".  For example, that Jesus marveled at the Roman centurion's "faith" means that he was surprised by the man's deep trust, not by the way he could rattle off a list of beliefs. He would have found it hard to do so. And when Jesus reproved the disciples for their "lack of faith", he meant their lack of trust and courage; it wasn't a reprimand for dropping one or another article of faith from the creed. The reason is obvious. No creed existed. No beliefs had been spelled out. Faith was courageous trust in Jesus and in the Good News which he lived and preached. Eventually this trust would crystallize into explicit beliefs, it is true. But the starting point is trusting courage, not beliefs. And in our life of faith just as in lighting a fuse, it makes a vital difference at which end we start.
Selah and Amen. 
He hit it. On the head. 
Faith is courageous trust in Jesus.