Each Wednesday I’m recording a Curiosity Journal to recap the past week. Tag words are: reading, playing, learning, reacting and writing.
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Some of you have mentioned that you’re keeping a Curiosity Journal, as well. Leave your link in the comments so that we can visit and enjoy your weekly review.
Reading
Well, I started reading What Does It All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy
, and even though it is very short and relatively simple, I’m not at all sure what any of it means. Why is my mind unable to wrap itself around philosophy?David Dark’s The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, which I mentioned last week, came in the mail.Still reading and enjoying Anna and the King with the kids.
Playing
Our homeschool cross country team competed in its first middle school meet on Saturday morning, running against several Catholic teams.Standing alongside the course, I like to encourage runners from other teams as well as our own, so I glance at the shirts and call out the name of the school. If an athlete racing toward me wears a jersey printed with, say, Wheaton Middle School, I would shout, “Good job, Wheaton! Keep up the pace! You look strong!” If the runner is from Bloomington North, I might say, “You look great, Bloomington!”As the Catholic runners tore around a corner on the home stretch, I got to shout things like, “Good job, Christ the King!”, “You look strong, Joan of Arc!”, “Keep it up, Saint Mark,” and “Way to go, Holy Spirit!”This pleased me to no end. I mentioned it to another coach. “It’s so fun,” I said, “to be shouting, ‘Way to go, Christ the King!'”She laughed and nodded. “I never thought of that, but it’s like we’re proclaiming truth all along the course.”Keep it up, Holy Spirit!
Learning
I already knew how to use commas in direct address, but I wanted to share this with you anyway, as I did with my composition students this week.
Reacting
In the 1950s, my mother-in-law worked for a summer at HoneyRock Camp in northern Wisconsin. After hiking to the bath house one night, she stepped out and stared in wonder at the sky—ablaze! Unlike a sunset, this luminous color shifted and shimmered mysteriously across the night sky. She hesitated only a second before racing back toward the cabins, sounding the alarm.”It’s Jesus!” she cried out. “Everyone, come quick! The Lord is coming back! It’s the Lord! He’s returning!“People scrambled from their beds as she continued shrieking with joy at His return.They staggered out, rubbing their groggy eyes, and stared where she was pointing.”It’s not Jesus,” they informed her. “It’s the Northern Lights.”What a disappointment! To think you were witnessing the Second Coming of Christ only to be told it was just an aurora?(with apologies if you must sit through a promotional ad preceding the video—I recommend turning down the volume)Ah, but those auroras…Though I’ve only seen them through someone else’s lens, I’m mesmerized by the fluid motion of those wafting, swirling green lights.And, moved core-deep by my mother-in-law’s youthful thrill, joy, and delight in the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I long to watch for Him with the same anticipation and readiness.
Writing
Monday’s post compels me to write raw.How much will I manage to share on the screen, though?
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Credits:Question mark photo copyright 2011 by Ann Kroeker.Comma poster found at Punctuation Point.Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
“You look strong, Joan of Arc!” So many things on the internet making me laugh out loud today.
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I am sure your mother-in-law was embarrased about thinking that the Lord was returning. I guess she had not read that his return will be very quick as in the blink of an eye. 🙂
She definitely was embarrassed, but I found the entire thing so sweet. If you’ve never seen or even heard of the Northern Lights before, what would you think?
One of your best Curiosity Journals, Ann!
Love the comma thing. I have a whole book of cartoons about comma placement (can you spell g-e-e-k?)
And I love the, “Come on, Holy Spirit!” My kids are both running xc, and at last week’s meet there were several Catholic schools. Now I know what to do.
And I adore your mother-in-law! To think, it will be better than those Northern Lights (which, to be fair, I also have never seen).
Oh, Megan, I’d like to see that comma cartoon book! 🙂
And thank you for your specific notes–enjoy cheering for the Catholic runners, and I adore my mother-in-law, too! 🙂
I loved the Catholic cheers you got to give. Reminded me to cheer my own little life-runners on today.
Life-runners. Good phrase!
Ann – Your northern lights story is so funny, because I had a similar experience in college… My friends and I were really into the second coming and Hal Lindsay, etc., when we heard some kids on the hall shouting and making noise about some lights in the sky… The entire dorm ran out in a panicked excitement (we flew down six flights of stairs) and ran out into the fields in amazement watching these green lights flash throughout the sky. “This is it!” we kept saying, holding our breaths in disbelief. Then, after a few minutes, word spread around the crowd – “It’s the Northern Lights!” What? What’s that? None of us had even heard of this phenomenon. After the show, we trudged back up to our dorms- yes, we were disapointed, but also feeling a little foolish.
So, your story brought back memories…