Ten Things From This Week
Cake, Cancel Culture, Trollope, and Teenagers... and a trend I caved to
In this delusional space between the end of January and some other far off place called spring, it can be hard to know the meaning of life.
Basketball season (if that’s a thing for you) goes on without end. Summer plans loom (through family texts asking for available dates, or a sign up notice for camp registration landing in your inbox), but is too far away to make any decisions because schedules are a wild donkey of a thing. There is still a Christmas tree to put away, but it is still so dark most days and the extra light feels necessary. You are tired of the winter greens, but it’s too early for blossoms. There is a pile of books to dive into, maybe even enjoy, but no discernible structure as to why you are reading them. This feels like a low point.
Joking aside, I do feel somewhat disparate this week. Maybe it is the in between-ness of the season, the lingering of snow banks on brown ribboned roadsides, a sun that shows its face for one beautiful day, warming your face as you step around the slushy spots on the driveway, but disappears again and really you know in your heart that warmer days and sprigs of green are a long way off. So yeah, maybe it is the mid-wintery-ness of things.
So instead of a rambling essay, or an attempt at following a train of thought, here, in the disjointed style of my midwinter doldrums are Ten Things From This Week. In no particular order or level of importance.
I think Kaitlyn Scheiss read my journal. I’ve written a little about how I’ve been in the major prophets for the last few months. Isaiah, then Jeremiah, and now Ezekiel. The prophets make for weird reading, but I think taken as a whole they are wildly, strangely helpful. The prophets weren’t telling the people to win government elections, or to fret about the upheaval of their times. They were, in my overarching and way oversimplified summary, pointing people to The Trustworthy Judgment of God (which is his alone), and the way His people are called to live in day in and day out faithfulness. Well, imagine my delight when on this week’s Holy Post episode, which I only tuned into because my parents were saying how much they enjoyed the conversation, Kaitlyn Scheiss (who is a million times more astute and articulate than I) elaborated so beautifully on how Jeremiah 38 is an ironically encouraging story that can be a guiding light for all of us in these troubling days. (note: it’s near the 48:00 mark)
Fridays are for giving in to trends. A friend and I were talking about the things we see everywhere… like idyllic nature settings in cute little gilded frames. And we both laughed at how in our own homes the walls were entirely bare and how we preferred photos over nature scenes even though photos no longer seem to be en vogue. I’ve got to get our family photos up on the wall, I said to myself after she left. There is a box or two still waiting to be unpacked in the garage. Then, Friday came and I found myself in a popular name brand store and there before me was a cute little gilded frame with a pretty picture in it and I bought it. I texted my friend, saying “I caved.” And she immediately sent back a photo of the same item from the same store. I’m telling you. Fridays are weird. And I’m more affected by Instagram than I even know.
Cancel Culture is Not New. And it is fascinating to see it through the eyes of Anthony Trollope’s classic, The Warden which I finished a few days ago. Here, in a small English cathedral town in the early 19th century is a setting and a time period and a cultural mindset almost entirely foreign to us in the year 2024. And yet, people are people. Motivations, vanities, jealousies, and passions are the same as they ever were. But reading about them through the lens of a different time and place can for me do two things: affirm the universality of the human condition (and keep us from catastrophizing any particular era or people group), and shed light on our own particular pitfalls and tendencies.
I spent too many brain hours thinking about spring break plans. We are not beach people, but did I look at beach houses in Florida that I cannot afford and am not sure we could drive to? Did we almost argue about whether or not you should go camping in Maine in April? Did I try to imagine a life where I could fly my family to Utah and rent a houseboat on Lake George? Let’s be honest, we will be sitting at home and I will probably buy a pot of flowers and make lemon bars.
Lemons are for February. Speaking of lemons, I made this Lemon Ricotta Cake for a church potluck that we ended up not attending because after a slew of months that included Hand Foot Mouth, Chicken Pox, and an upper respiratory infection, we now have Conjunctivitis. But we also have lemons.
The Atlantic, finally. After years of getting cut off every month when I reached the paywall, I finally got a subscription. As a friend said, “I’m an adult and I just hit the button.” It felt good.
Sometimes I talk about teenagers and how much I enjoy them, so why not include that on my list? It’s the truth. And this week was no exception. I’m not here to say they are without their burdens and panic-inducing tendencies. This week also held plenty of those. I told Josh that my journal seems mostly filled with (the prophets) and prayers for my teens. But in the spirit of this beautifully humble advice from
, I also want to have expectant hope for their lives. And I do give thanks for every conversation where they open up, every personal part of their lives they willingly share, every time they show a willingness to listen. And how about that moment when Margot told her big brother after he put her and Zoë to bed, “You’re going to be a great dad someday.” Let’s celebrate that and bless the living daylights out of them, though we tremble.One of the sweetest stages kids go through is when all their big adult teeth come in but they are still small and slight and not in their big person body yet. I have one currently in this stage and it just makes me smile on the inside all the time. While the in-between stage of already winter but not yet spring is kind of icky, this in-between stage is not. I think middle school boys get a bad rap sometimes, but I am here for it. Honestly, this is my third go around with a middle school boy and I have enjoyed it every time. One might start to wonder if I like kids in general (because I also like teenagers), but that is not true. I try to stop having them, but the Lord continues to give them to me and then makes me enjoy it.
Two new books. Trust, by Hernan Diaz. It comes highly endorsed by people I trust, but I’m just a few chapters in. Biblical Critical Theory by Christopher Watkin. I think this is one of those brilliant, drop-the-mic type books that makes sense of Everything and is just so helpful in our current cultural waters. But it’s not quick reading and so I make my way slowly. Still, I recommend.
Finally, it is hard to buy the right color nail polish. And it is easy to waste precious dollars. That is all.
I love your book recs! Recently read "How to Stay Married" and enjoyed it. I also love lemons and just happen to have some that need to be used.