tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-108855012012-01-14T09:44:28.986-06:00The Beehive"There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." Proverbs 11:24-26Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.comBlogger6841100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-2346490246779269942010-11-30T01:11:00.000-06:002010-11-30T01:11:31.506-06:00a feather on the breath of GodThis morning, as I went about my pre-breakfast ritual of swirling green tea leaves in a quart jar full of hot-but-not-quite-boiling water, a line of an ancient lyric seemed to rise out of the steam and into my drowsy thoughts. I do not know why, nor do I ever hope to understand how my auditory memory goes about selecting its earworms du jour.
The phrase it has chosen for today, apparently, is aLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-77095853185731268642010-11-03T14:15:00.000-05:002010-11-03T14:15:19.055-05:00Wordless Wednesday, Texas edition!Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-53946259717417545482010-11-01T22:52:00.000-05:002010-11-01T22:52:34.985-05:00NaNoWriMo and the written doe boundingIt's November 1st, which means for the next thirty-one days, ordinary people all over tarnation will be tapping and scribbling like mad for NaNoWriMo, the annual, wildly popular project for the umpteen thousand people out there whose life dream is to write a whole novel in one month.
Are you even remotely tempted? Me? Umm, maybe next year.
In honor of all those courageous and hopeful soulsLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-7998011186078654702010-10-31T22:27:00.001-05:002010-11-01T09:41:30.885-05:00Texas-sized RespectI have two things to say about this:
1) Every once in a while, the right thing happens. And that makes me happy.
2) For as long as the Lord lends me breath, I hope he lets me live among Texans. That makes me happy, too.
It also makes me really happy that my son and my husband were there to see it!Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-17230619851283415332010-10-26T00:01:00.001-05:002010-10-26T00:01:01.546-05:00Tuesdays with Charlotte"If a human being were a machine, education could do no more for him than to set him in action in prescribed ways, and the work of the educator would be simply to adopt a good working system or set of systems. But the educator has to deal with a self-acting, self-developing being, and his business is to guide, and assist in, the production of the latent good in that being, the dissipation of the Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-35418142198697353422010-10-17T21:58:00.001-05:002010-10-17T23:30:42.284-05:00because you tread on my dreamsI love it when I make sense, but the older I get the more exhilarated I feel when other people make sense. It's reassuring, you know?
For example, I could get a little giddy over this Sir Ken Robinson fellow insisting to a huge audience of movers and shakers at TED that education "is not linear, it's organic," and, "a three-year-old is not half a six-year-old," and several other choice Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-57312119344945979362010-09-25T22:13:00.000-05:002010-09-25T22:13:11.388-05:00the board of education - september editionIt's fall already. And just look, there's our kitchen white board over in the corner still wearing the faded quotes of summer. So once again, before I wickedly erase the treasured collection of wit and wisdom collected thereon, I shall document all of it here. I will even toss in, for free, a few bonus quotes from the banter presently flying through the air in my kitchen even as I type:
"Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-64975121104481091682010-09-23T17:05:00.000-05:002010-09-23T17:05:42.874-05:00...and many more!
Singing Happy Birthday today to my very beautiful mother, our Sugar Cookie-- the name Justin gave her as soon as he could speak. She's the spirit of a giant incongruously contained in a petite package of heart, soul, beauty, brains, backbone, zeal, and spunk. She sings in my head and my heart and in all my dreams of childhood, and I love her to the moon and back.
And now, for your birthday,Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-81518038270586852152010-09-21T01:12:00.000-05:002010-09-21T01:12:54.241-05:00wake up and smell the chai latteMy stars, what a long nap that turned out to be. Would seem the dear hive is in need of a good dusting and airing.
Is anybody still here?Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-75736036217801929952010-04-11T22:46:00.000-05:002010-04-11T22:46:09.117-05:00oh, right.Me, to the waitress at IHOP:
"Is the coffee in this carafe decaf? Because it says decaf."
Waitress (referring to a previous waitress):
"Did she pour it? Because if she didn't pour it, it isn't decaf."
Now why didn't I think of that?Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-7360494356412183442010-04-09T00:00:00.001-05:002010-04-09T00:07:25.971-05:00the board of educationI have long since forgotten the lofty academic purposes for which I originally purchased the large whiteboard easel that has commandeered the corner of our kitchen for the past fifteen years, because, for starters, here in my world-- amidst the domestic cacophony of Bach Inventions battling with ballgames for airspace, amidst the clamor of narrations and recitations and pesky Republican phone Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-21079683133529627622010-04-04T21:41:00.001-05:002010-04-04T21:43:15.446-05:00practice resurrection
In celebration of the Resurrection, it seems a fitting day to gently nudge The Beehive awake again from its long winter hibernation (which was also fitting, but that's a different post). And since it's now April, glorious April, which is National Poetry Month, it seems fitting to do so with a poem.
(As if we needed an excuse for that.)
(Poetry, I mean.)
This one is a favorite. Do read it. Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-1568452116370319042010-01-03T20:43:00.002-06:002010-01-03T20:48:50.044-06:00Clod-bustin' with HoseaSow to yourselves in righteousness,
reap in mercy;
break up your fallow ground:
for it is time to seek the LORD,
till He come and rain righteousness upon you.
Hosea 10:12
Now, there's a January verse if there ever was one. Sitting here in front of a crackling fire this evening, I worked for a while on narrating this passage back to myself in my own words, phrase by phrase, slowly.
"Sow Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-46919927092425470202010-01-01T17:19:00.007-06:002010-01-02T21:17:40.743-06:00waltzing in the closet of redemptionOh, how I adore January. She always dances in passing out double shots of hope and energy on the house, and out in her sparkly silver truck she has a load of blank canvasses and magic paintbrushes for anyone who's interested. She'll even send you some buns of steel by summer if you sign up now and make timely payments. I know, because I did it once, way back in 2003. Oh baby, it was Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-21443420028283825272009-12-23T12:17:00.001-06:002009-12-23T12:19:18.090-06:00Look, Ma! We're famous! For... uhh, ham?Well, folks, we Bruce ladies finally made the big time! Yes, indeed, That Is Us featured in the lead article of the GuideLive section of the Dallas Morning News today. Yes, yes, that photo of us there on page 6E is, in fact, A Photo Of Us. In the Dallas Morning News. And everything.
photo by John F. Rhodes/DMN
Oh my, yes, we are Mighty Impressed with ourselves today. We must be Important Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-47312743047190477762009-12-10T16:53:00.001-06:002009-12-10T16:54:17.071-06:00Today ismy birthday!
Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-73115506549296434932009-11-24T21:56:00.002-06:002009-11-25T00:57:02.554-06:00A poem for November
Pumpkins
Curling vines pearl the earth;
the ancient tribe convenes
in twirly riot
of orange rotundity.
Their solar girth belies
their fragile origins--
light-gilded bees and
gossamer blossoms.
Waxed mirthsome now, they flirt
with anthropology,
bending the narrow rows
of nomenclature.
And He who broods fireballs
to prophesy frost
now calls them from fields
for our festival Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-48173618193022568622009-11-22T00:28:00.000-06:002009-11-22T00:28:27.039-06:00Thanksgiving!Mercy me, it's in less than a week!
In the preceding post about Bunyan's pilgrim poem, I mentioned that at our family's Thanksgiving feast we all take turns reading a little something. This is one of our favorite family traditions. We take our time; each person eventually finds their own moment during natural lulls in conversation to read the little scroll tucked next to their plate. Nothing Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-87827173921755565392009-11-20T01:31:00.001-06:002009-11-20T01:36:57.373-06:00A Poem That Gets Around(Which is kind of a funny sort of double entendre, since it's about a pilgrim. On a pilgrimage. "Gets around"-- get it? Oh well, never mind.)
Let's see if I can pack John Bunyan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band (oh, and how about some hobgoblins and foul fiends!) all into one post. Ready?
I shall let Brother Bunyan go first, which is the only proper thing to doLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-23946633490884017292009-11-18T22:24:00.000-06:002009-11-18T22:24:20.471-06:00Q&A with Spuddy BuddySpuddy: "So, didn't you say Aunt Linda is really your cousin?"
Me: "Yes. First cousin, once removed."
::long pause::
Spuddy: "So how, exactly, do you remove a cousin?"Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-73865293161770080552009-11-18T20:35:00.000-06:002009-11-18T20:35:19.013-06:00partying poets, take a bow!The Beehive Poetry Ceilidh was quite festive! A big thank you to all of you who stepped up on the Beehive stage and shared a few verses. I feel quite well-regaled, don't you all?
More than half the poems posted for the Ceilidh were original works! Love it! I had hoped we'd get an original or two, but half? Really? You people are fantastic. And all your poems are, too.
And never fear, Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-4712561269964883672009-11-07T16:14:00.002-06:002009-11-07T16:21:14.482-06:00Beehive Poetry Ceilidh ILet the festival begin! The more the merrier!
Here's what to do: simply post a poem on your blog. It can be original or a favorite by another poet. Then come back to The Beehive and give Mr. Linky, below, the link to your poem post on your blog (not the link to your main blog page).
If you prefer, you may share your poem in the comments to this post.
Funnity fun!
ps. For those of you who Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-435593632198201592009-11-05T18:31:00.000-06:002009-11-05T18:31:59.412-06:00If you give a muse a waffle...Einstein has now left the building. He was a fun guest for a fortnight, was he not? But my brain, which is by no means the same variety of cauliflower as Albert's, has a fickle appetite.
Which brings us to waffles. No, really, it does. Anyone knows that good waffles have the power to reform a person's point of view. But only the Wise Ones, those venerable souls robed in floury aprons of Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-70663345017902802052009-11-04T21:00:00.001-06:002009-11-05T09:12:07.385-06:00Einsteinisms XII
I want to know all God's thoughts; all the rest are just details.
~Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-7627819529223326792009-11-03T21:00:00.003-06:002009-11-03T21:00:01.893-06:00Einsteinisms XI
Even on the most solemn occasions I got away without wearing socks and hid that lack of civilization in high boots.
~ Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-49151636792401819122009-11-02T21:00:00.001-06:002009-11-02T21:00:01.372-06:00Einsteinisms X
Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.
~Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-25632789106961289042009-11-01T21:00:00.001-06:002009-11-01T21:00:00.570-06:00Einsteinisms IX
Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.
~Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-6330085366319532392009-10-31T18:00:00.001-05:002009-10-31T18:00:08.271-05:00Einsteinisms VIII
Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.
~Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-61309980978997115022009-10-30T21:00:00.001-05:002009-10-30T22:56:41.353-05:00Einsteinisms VII
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
~Albert Einstein Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-13093677163276267942009-10-29T21:00:00.001-05:002009-10-29T21:00:01.223-05:00Einsteinisms VI
It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.
~ Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-52391859375713886322009-10-28T21:00:00.000-05:002009-10-28T21:00:06.429-05:00Einsteinisms V
I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.
~Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-62064122654648369432009-10-28T15:05:00.001-05:002010-10-25T18:23:16.953-05:00And the winner is...Here we are at high noon. Justin is bandanna'd and all set to judge our Silly Contest.
But before he points the finger, I must say this... It fed my parched soul to see what beautiful songs you all are singing out there on ordinary days. Wow. Go read all the comments if you haven't already. The world is harsh, but you all are brilliant, sparkling points of beauty and light. Keep singing!
As Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-26526807555985351762009-10-27T21:00:00.002-05:002009-10-27T21:00:00.975-05:00Einsteinisms IV
Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.
~Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-87075399172949455992009-10-26T21:00:00.004-05:002009-10-26T23:50:58.030-05:00Happy Birthday, Miss Mahalia"When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong. But when you are through with the blues, you've got nothing to rest on."
~ Mahalia Jackson, born this day in 1911, who steadfastly refused all offers to get rich singing the blues, because she knew she was born to sing for Jesus Christ.
My mother played Mahalia Jackson's records while she cleaned house when I was a smallLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-52481776251386972432009-10-26T21:00:00.002-05:002009-10-26T21:00:01.185-05:00Einsteinisms III
It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.
~Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-19763467219220875072009-10-26T01:27:00.007-05:002009-10-26T01:54:23.874-05:00"700?" she marvelled. "Well, naturally this calls for a Silly Contest."
This is The Beehive's 700th post!
Sparklers and confetti and virtual Beehive cake for everybody!
You know us; we'll celebrate most anything as long as there's a cute cake involved.
700 blog posts. Mercy me. Some of you Gentle Readers have been around for most (or even ALL) of those missives, and for that I say you deserve some sort of prize, for sure. So I say to celebrate our 700th Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-83785000885754857402009-10-25T02:25:00.002-05:002009-10-25T02:33:41.348-05:00said the flea to the fly, let's flee the fluI've been studying up on flu prevention. It's not just that I'd like my loved ones to avoid suffering through it; I also have the added motivation of recently learning that cancer survivors are having a particularly rough time with H1N1. Theoretically, this is because our immune systems are already worn down from all the time they've spent trying to fight cancer cells.
So yes, I'm doing my Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-45892438970265014632009-10-24T21:02:00.000-05:002009-10-24T21:34:21.791-05:00Einsteinisms II
Everything must be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.
~ Albert EinsteinLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-49099187331901939462009-10-23T23:59:00.001-05:002009-10-24T00:02:24.873-05:00Einsteinisms IIf you can't explain it to a six year old,
you don't understand it yourself.
~ Albert Einstein
Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-61427522741781939722009-10-23T20:34:00.002-05:002009-10-23T20:38:50.604-05:00suggesting, cajoling, insisting, pleading, begging...YOU
because I want you to have a very large, beautiful life
wherein you contemplate very large, beautiful things
to go straightway to the The CiRCE Institute website
-------do not pass GO do not collect two hundred dollars just go for Pete's sake------
and take advantage of Andrew Kern's brain-tingling offer:
Make any size donation to The CiRCE Institute (always a worthy cause), and they Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-80471504320521982452009-10-22T02:11:00.009-05:002009-10-23T18:05:43.348-05:00On Leisure, Learning, and Large RoomsLittle did I know when I turned a page and came upon this passage well over a decade ago that my children's lives would be immeasurably changed by it:
Our aim in Education is to give a Full Life.–– We begin to see what we want. Children make large demands upon us. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. ‘Thou hast set my feet in a large room,’ should be the glad cry of everyLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-34785982049994225962009-10-16T01:38:00.003-05:002009-10-16T01:45:12.374-05:00The Best Christmas Card EverTonight I went to a workshop at PaperSource on creating handmade cards.
Hmm? Oh. Well, because I wanted to, that's why. Because I haven't done anything just because I wanted to in... uhhh... hmmm...
You see how it is.
So I enjoyed every second of it. I arrived early to find a h u g e table covered in brown craft paper (how I love that stuff) and neat stations fully stocked with an arrayLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-26517215134899991112009-10-14T03:59:00.000-05:002009-10-14T03:59:34.492-05:00poetry in the machineThis video is a swirl of metaphors, on so many levels that I suspect I will be thinking about it for a long time. I feel provoked, in the best sense of the word.
For my fellow readers of Leisure: The Basis of Culture in the Ordo Amoris book group, here I see a hopeful glimpse of Pieper's unproletariat -- a man both fully at work and fully at leisure, and why? Because he works at somethingLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-58022670732319077702009-10-12T01:01:00.001-05:002009-10-12T01:04:52.798-05:00here be dragons and squashLast weekend I arranged my usual progressive autumnal centerpiece for the Beehive dining room table. I say "progressive" because I usually start with winter squash, colorful corn, and many candles, and then closer to Thanksgiving, I add in some decorative pumpkins, colorful leaves, glass turkeys, sweetgum balls, and some big, frowzy burr oak acorns.
The basic elements have remained constant forLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-83405151370328727462009-10-08T20:15:00.001-05:002009-10-08T20:18:32.098-05:00her very last first day
Thirteen much-too-short years ago this fall, this beautiful little girl started kindergarten. She was all bubbly elation. Every morning, she lit up like a 1000 watt bulb the second she woke up. She never walked anywhere she could skip or run instead. She was all hugs and dimples and wild exclamations, an electric blur of torn tutus and and mud boots and fairy wings and bursts of operatic high Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-18440021405361304712009-10-05T12:22:00.001-05:002009-10-05T12:24:27.705-05:00on raising beautiful weirdosDear Mr. Mitchell, whoever you are,
Thank you for your recent essay explaining why I've spent my best years turning three perfectly beautiful babies into quirky oddballs. It's an essay I've been meaning to write for years, but since you so kindly did my homework for me, I now have the afternoon free to go listen to my beautiful weirdos sing and laugh their way through bits of Gilbert & SullivanLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-65495959871740738592009-10-03T21:25:00.000-05:002009-10-03T21:25:44.822-05:00pen zenAhhh. First post-it note performance art, and now this. Fountain pens! Graph paper! Sky blue ink in handsome glass bottles! My heart verily fluttereth.
This, too, is performance of an art, and one I wish to perform better. And you, too?
Well, Christmas is coming. And you'd really like a fountain pen, now wouldn't you?
Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-34300310812488500492009-09-24T23:20:00.000-05:002009-09-24T23:20:54.622-05:00because office supplies can be beautiful.And now a bit of High Art to make your Friday a little more fabulous.
Herewith, the perfect marriage of brilliant creativity and... umm, office supplies. I suppose I should come clean about my little problem with office supplies. Office supplies make me a wee bit giddy, to tell you the truth. So the spectacle of performance art with office supplies... ah, well... it verges on more joy than myLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-40146072443814381612009-09-23T21:41:00.001-05:002009-09-24T15:37:53.035-05:00invisible thingsTo David, About His Education
The world is full of mostly invisible things,
And there is no way but putting the mind's eye,
Or its nose, in a book, to find them out,
Things like the square root of Everest
Or how many times Byron goes into Texas,
Or whether the law of the excluded middle
Applies west of the Rockies. For these
And the like reasons, you have to go to school
And study books Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-2330056949645572692009-09-22T21:41:00.001-05:002009-09-22T21:42:35.114-05:00The real threat? Not quite, but you're getting warmer."Most people who are secular humanists have the idea that they are doing fine. (That) we are doing fine and our only enemy is the Bible-based far right. The reason why the real threat is the far right is that they have the Bible. And the Bible is a masterpiece. The Bible is one of the greatest works produced in the world. The people who all they have is the Bible actually are set up for life. Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-21098218432712253002009-09-13T14:00:00.007-05:002009-09-13T16:09:19.882-05:00On Plutarch, repentance and shafts of light"Knowledge is knowing; understanding is knowing what to do; wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is actually doing it. The three together are what we call repentance." ~ Tristan GylberdJustin had just braved a sentence-by-sentence narration of some Plutarch and he was a bit tired, but it was that pleasant sort of tired you'd get from, oh say, a spin through the museum with Octavius and Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-20149311369751881472009-09-10T01:11:00.001-05:002009-09-10T11:25:03.098-05:00the space butterflyBehold beauty unspeakable.
New image released today from the Hubble Space Telescope,from the first photos taken with its newly repaired and improved mirrors.
Have you ever seen a more breathtakingly beautiful photo? I want it blown up mural size for my bedroom ceiling.We are the first generation to see these things, "yea, the deep things of God."*That's astonishing to think about.The things God Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-54510863644963359332009-09-09T21:36:00.000-05:002009-09-09T21:36:44.996-05:00nine nine nineHey, look at that -- today is
09/09/09
That sort of thing only happens once a year, ya know. I just thought we should notice.
Wonder how many 9 lb 9 oz babies were born at 9:09 today?
(Remember when 07/07/07 fell on a Saturday and a bazillion couples got married that day so they could have it for their anniversary date?)Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-21418891678588026352009-09-06T22:58:00.029-05:002009-09-07T03:47:04.091-05:00on bonus timeTwo years ago today, I was cured of breast cancer.
While singing in the shower this morning, standing in the exact spot where I first felt that deadly butterbean under my skin, I had a mind-bending thought: "I have now lived past the time when I would have died without the mastectomy, without the miracle."
"From here on," I thought, "I'm living on bonus time."
Then it hit me: What am ILynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-67274220747258169642009-09-06T01:27:00.000-05:002009-09-06T01:27:37.455-05:00the chief end of curriculumThus saith the LORD,
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might;
Let not the rich man glory in his riches
But let him that glorieth glory in this,
that he understandeth and knoweth
Me
That I am the LORD
which exercise lovingkindness,
judgment,
and righteousness in the earth
For in these things I delight,
saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 29:23-24Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-70021135865361937292009-09-05T03:06:00.000-05:002009-09-05T03:06:40.936-05:00Do you like my party hat?*To herald the end of our summer blogging sabbatical, which I must say I found quite restorative and almost too delightfully lazy, I took a fresh look at The Beehive and decided the old gal was due for a new outfit. Thought she might relish a little change of scenery after four and half years.
What do you think?
*Can anyone name that book?Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-37503118939629133682009-08-22T23:01:00.001-05:002009-08-22T23:03:06.341-05:00funny bones.Spud: Mamadah, what are measles?Mamadah: A diseasle.Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-92074251573185324252009-07-20T23:43:00.008-05:002009-09-05T02:00:28.453-05:00We didn't mean to..
Honest. It just sort of happened. School was out and the sun grew so warm and gorgeous, and so we sort of accidentally flew far away from our Beehive because there were flowers, flowers, flowers everywhere and we were so terribly charmed and distracted. And then, oh dear, we got a little woozy on all the nectar and kinda sorta forgot to come back.
But now it's so hot the flowers are losing Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-87098034843781534902009-04-29T11:50:00.005-05:002009-04-29T13:23:50.638-05:00What I did in April instead of Blogging.I formed a serious addiction to these things.I bought one little box at first, just because the little Ginger Dude is so fetching. I wanted to see him again. Like next time I opened my purse. I mean, look at him. You have to admit he's amazing. Cheery. Encouraging. And obviously that Ginger Chew he's gnawing on has launched his spirit into a state of Blissful Repose.I wanted Blissful Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-51238037655015605832009-04-15T13:01:00.002-05:002009-04-15T13:05:29.638-05:00little league.There is nothing quite like seeing a little boy swagger into the batter's box feeling twice his size, wielding the bat like some fantastic medieval bludgeon, and then right before that one poised, motionless moment when he will manfully stare down the vulturing pitcher, he sticks his behind out slightly and shakes it just a little and all you can see, shining in the afternoon sunlight through Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-59094688605284446732009-04-07T10:08:00.005-05:002009-04-07T13:05:10.900-05:00Yesterday was PaybackYesterday was one of those payback days. The Queen once long ago wisely advised me that some days you simply need to pay attention. Yesterday was one of those days.To understand what I mean, you have to understand our schedule yesterday. Spuddy Buddy and I went to the season opening game of the Texas Rangers. Immediately following this, he had his opening game for his Little League team and great scotnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-46081346356148046782009-03-18T18:09:00.003-05:002009-03-18T19:01:10.506-05:00a poem for spring break.This is how I feel today.The Thought of Something Elseby Wendell Berry1.A spring wind blowingthe smell of the groundthrough the intersections of traffic,the mind turns, seeks a newnativity—another place,simpler, less weightedby what has already been.Another place!it’s enough to grieve me—that old dream of going,of becoming a better manjust by getting up and goingto a better place.2.The mystery. Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-26020547158822975752009-03-14T15:34:00.008-05:002009-03-14T18:16:36.674-05:00It was the Scotsman, in the yard, with a spray gun. .That's the clue you'll need if I should mysteriously turn up missing sometime this weekend. It went down like this, gumshoes. Earlier today Great Scot was trying to slip out the door to go buy his annual fix of pre-emergent supercarcinogenic death juice with which he likes to douse the dirt-with-grass-comb-overs outside that we call our lawn. But then our cats started brawling and woke me upLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-58615182674169250132009-03-11T17:36:00.010-05:002009-03-11T21:36:59.136-05:00pickles & dumplings.While fossicking about the kitchen for a snack late one night, I sorta accidentally stumbled upon an altogether salubrious combo. I never would have planned to have these two things together, but now that I have, I think my hippocampus is irreversibly altered.Now, it's better than it sounds, so promise me you'll try it before you dismiss it out of hand. Alrighty then.Earl Grey + Popcorn.It's Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-82298079383774469102009-03-04T13:35:00.003-06:002009-03-04T13:43:04.836-06:00spud shares a poem....which he would like you to read aloud, seeing as how it is meant to be heard, and seeing as how this one is particularly hummish when heard aloud. We recommend a sort of sleepy, drowsy interpretation, taking your sweet time, because Milne was a sonic genius and we think you'll agree when you read this aloud in a slow, sleepy, drowsy voice. But you do what you like.Water Liliesby A. A. Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-65536180203026866432009-03-04T13:04:00.003-06:002009-03-04T13:14:25.639-06:00blinkety blink blink.Ever see a character in your Sunday comic section do this?(Give it a few seconds and you'll see what I mean.).Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-71741939351859687382009-02-17T13:16:00.006-06:002009-02-18T01:44:24.363-06:00now we are fourThe Beehive is 4!You know, it just occurred to me how fitting it is that we started The Beehive in February. We're always restless in February, aren't you? Itchy. Twitchy. Bumfoozled. I mean, when is the world ever more drained of color and energy than in February? The light is wimpy. The air is tired. The trees are inky claws scratching at the grey, clumpy sky. Yuck. Just yuck.So back in Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-87963301568580582132009-02-11T15:20:00.006-06:002009-02-11T15:50:03.998-06:00perforce, perchance?.Once you notice something, you start noticing it. Ever notice this? Well, even if you haven't noticed heretofore, now that I've brought it to your notice, you will doubtless start to notice that you notice things you didn't notice before once you begin to notice them.Like the word perforce.I bet I've gone five years at a stretch without ever thinking or seeing or using the word perforce. But in Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-50213664723941987412009-02-08T09:06:00.007-06:002009-02-08T09:50:39.116-06:00big cabbages for big wabbits.Oh, mercy, this picture just makes me happy.I have no idea who this happy fellow is, but I like him lots. How can you be fully human and not have a big sappy soft spot for old gardeners who strut their stuff? I'm thinking if there's such a thing as righteous pride, surely gardeners who coax bodacious produce out of mere dirt could be justified in it. I mean, they're just doing what God told AdamLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-58031819093701816922009-02-04T23:56:00.005-06:002009-02-05T01:20:32.123-06:00the dark night.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 10 ~ Spiritual Gluttony: Spiritual FeelingsThe previous chapter explored many difficulties in the Christian life, but this chapter will focus on the internal spiritual challenge known as "the dark night of the soul," or a desert experience.Thomas a Kempis: "It is very expedient for thy welfare, that thou be left sometimes without taste ofLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-50796131565227220192009-02-04T23:19:00.003-06:002009-02-04T23:22:57.886-06:00precisely"Poets don’t draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently."— Jean CocteauLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-8981974841751633172009-02-02T22:31:00.005-06:002009-02-02T22:38:48.410-06:00Dear Congress,.."Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom."~ Albert Einstein. Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-86424117269628478142009-01-30T22:03:00.004-06:002009-01-30T22:09:13.377-06:00need ye a bonny breakfast, aye?.Very well, then!I just posted our family's very favorite breakfast over at 350..Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-35510373228043231852009-01-29T07:00:00.001-06:002009-01-29T07:00:01.093-06:00a crushing mercy.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 9 - A Difficult Road: The Christian LifeThose who have gone before us have left a clear witness: We may seek God or we may seek ease, but we cannot seek both.Our surgical and medical advancements lull into false security, causing us to forget that we are one missed heartbeat away from heaven... The physical and social luxuries of our Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-82715955944326676042009-01-28T20:49:00.003-06:002009-01-28T21:10:11.887-06:00please help yourself. Yes, this affects you. And it's about a whole lot more than just handmade goods. Please click on the bearfor more information and contact your Congressman now to protest this ridiculous, invasive, punitive law that affects all of usbefore it's too late! And please pass it on! .Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-61951319095162466862009-01-27T21:10:00.004-06:002009-01-27T21:21:05.132-06:00Merry Christmas!.We just exchanged Christmas presents with my parents and my brother. No joke. Hey, we march to our own little drummer boy around here.(And you thought we were oddballs about New Year's!)And now we're listening to ice hit the roof and sipping Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea. Amazing stuff, by the way. Truly tastes just like a sugar cookie!Ho ho ho!.Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-17765243083404297032009-01-23T22:53:00.006-06:002009-01-24T14:41:18.844-06:00one year.My day has finally come.My fourth and final surgery for breast cancer was one year ago today. How I wish that on that day I could have read the paragraph I'm about to write next.Today, I had a normal day. I took a shower all by myself. I sang a hymn. I braided my own hair. I brewed hot tea and read a book. I listened to a dozen beautiful children recite poetry and heartily sing "Count Your Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-52899859204396380622009-01-22T20:13:00.000-06:002009-01-24T14:41:18.845-06:00the pursuit of happinessThere are times when you fritter around in a dull fog waiting for happiness to find you. There are times when it dawns unbidden and radiates everything; you lift your face and glow to the bone. And then there are dark, raw times when you must fumble for a lasso and hoist what's left of you into that tall saddle away-up-there and charge full-gasping-hard after happiness, because the blasted Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-66082815992512020832009-01-20T20:16:00.004-06:002009-01-20T20:26:40.233-06:00"Nothing compares to Texas at sunset.".Nothing indeed. Welcome home, neighbor...Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-12283953279807717012009-01-19T16:54:00.008-06:002009-01-19T17:23:21.093-06:00sentenced.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 8 -- Living in a Dying World: The Remembrance of DeathFenelon believed we avoid the thought of death so we are not saddened by it. But this, he said, is shortsighted. "It will only be sad for those who have not thought about it."Young people have a distorted view of life. We forget that funerals are waiting on the other end of weddings Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-44051836723385899122009-01-19T15:55:00.004-06:002009-01-19T16:07:48.643-06:00happy new yuck..The Beehive New Year's Eve bash foretold here last Thursday has been put on hold for a day or two. Beatrice and Spuddy are suffering from stomach virus. Poor dears.But we are resolutely determined to party, have no fear. Plans proceed apace. We'll keep you posted.Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-22635041337143609812009-01-15T13:23:00.000-06:002009-01-15T16:46:55.310-06:00Happy Ides of January!.Okay, so maybe that was an odd salutation; I'll grant you that. I'm greeting you in that fashion because I never got around to wishing y'all a Happy New Year. I'll get to that next week. On Monday, to be precise. Because here in the realm known as The Beehive, of which I'm sure I needn't remind you I am The Queen, 2009 officially starts this coming Sunday at midnight, straight up.That thing thatLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-1887142412049700892008-12-26T14:09:00.009-06:002008-12-26T19:47:41.077-06:00Sing, sweet Gigi, sing.Our precious Gigi Louise has a song again. The Lord released her from earth just a few hours before her 96th birthday on Tuesday.Gigi Louise's passing marks the end of an era for our family. Her remarkable generation, those raised by parents and grandparents of the 19th century, is now all gone. Suddenly the ship seems slight of ballast; our identity feels diluted by her absence, and oddly Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-51369366293361485282008-12-18T13:50:00.004-06:002008-12-18T13:59:34.469-06:00adventicipations.Mary's SongBlue homespun and the bend of my breastkeep warm this small hot naked starfallen to my arms. (Rest . . .you who have had so far to come.)Now nearness satisfiesthe body of God sweetly. Quiet he lieswhose vigor hurled a universe. He sleepswhose eyelids have not closed before.His breath (so slight it seemsno breath at all) once ruffled the dark deepsto sprout a world. Charmed by doves' Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-24384503454020487402008-12-16T20:59:00.003-06:002008-12-17T16:23:46.335-06:00we pause for birthdays.Beatrice and I share a birthday week and so we've been rather consumed these past several days with getting older and wiser and better looking and more like fine wine and all that sort of thing, if our loved ones are to be believed.Beatrice's big day comes first. A couple of handsome chaps came all the way from Tennessee to help us celebrate her 17th. We plowed through enchiladas and rellenos atLynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-43570564423723506102008-12-12T00:17:00.003-06:002008-12-12T00:38:40.741-06:00adventicipations. OpenJohn 20:19, 26Doubt padlocked one door andMemory put her back to the other.Still the damp draught seeped in, thoughFear chinked all the cracks andBlindness boarded up the window.In the darkness that was leftDefeat crouched, shivering,in his cold corner.Then Jesus came(all the doors being shut)and stood among them.~Luci Shawfrom Accompanied by Angels - Poems of the Incarnation .Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-81428672800088935702008-12-08T10:42:00.010-06:002008-12-10T16:13:32.640-06:00a child squinting.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 7 - The High and the Low: A Double-Sided Humility"Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because He shows us both God and our own wretchedness." - Blaise Pascal"There was a time in my life when I feared Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-16304315620431909572008-12-04T13:32:00.031-06:002008-12-09T20:28:37.557-06:00Power Caroling 2008.If The Beehive has a Ghost of Christmas Past, it's a post from December 2005 that begins to reappear unbidden in our blog stats every December when longtime readers once again dig it up from the archives: Power Caroling, Or Our Top 10 Desert Island Christmas Albums.I loaded all that lovely music into our disc changer last weekend, and oh! mercy! me! I'm dazzled all over again. What glorious Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-81320742340967356662008-12-04T00:01:00.002-06:002008-12-04T02:40:38.455-06:00squash circles. Okay, y'all. I need witnesses. Something very strange happened in my kitchen last night while I was sleeping..I'm pretty sure aliens invaded my squash.Okay, let me explain. Seriously, this is too weird.That big lumpy bluish-green object to the left of the perky little acorn squash is a hubbard squash. Now, don't feel dim if you didn't know that; it's not your fault. Our grandmas probably knew Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-60384307787109223202008-12-03T00:41:00.008-06:002008-12-03T12:20:59.039-06:00adventicipations..Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, Fear notbehold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you. ..the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying,Fear not, Abram..And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said unto her...Fear not,,And the LORD appeared unto Isaac, and said...Fear not.Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-39424688268182687122008-12-02T10:58:00.003-06:002008-12-02T11:14:47.410-06:00adventicipations.I wait for the LORDmy soul doth waitand in His Word do I hopeMy soul waiteth for the LORDmore than they that watch for the morningI saymore than theythat watch for the morning .Psalm 130:5&6..Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-48877157967186350452008-12-01T14:40:00.002-06:002008-12-01T14:58:20.335-06:00a heart full of noise.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 6 - Cultivating the Quiet: Simplicity"The sin many of us fall into is not that we shake our fists at God and defy Him to His face; that is the sin of unbelievers. Our sin is that we passively rebel against God, filling our lives with so much noise and busyness that God's voice cannot, or will not, penetrate.""Cultivating the quiet is a Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-54579698673370239002008-11-25T20:53:00.007-06:002008-11-26T01:39:20.003-06:00on being thankful for what came to pass.The second greatest benefit of blogging is that if you keep at it long enough, one day you will realize that you've inadvertently given yourself an unexpected blessing: archives. We didn't even consider this lovely side benefit of blogging back when we decided to start The Beehive. But I have to say that those archives tucked away over there on your left are absolutely priceless to me now. As Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-10453978486381405362008-11-25T10:20:00.002-06:002008-11-25T10:32:33.886-06:00thanksgiving snowballs. Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 5 - Joyful Surrender: Christian SubmissionThe Two Essential Questions:Is God good?Is God Lord?"Both the goodness and providence of God are well established in Scripture, but both are questioned today: "If God is so good, why does He allow evil things to happen?" and "If God is in control, why is the world such a mess?" Until we resolve Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-3616217159281030972008-11-24T00:01:00.001-06:002008-11-24T00:02:03.185-06:00soul sadness.This brief passage from Chapter 4* is rich and stunning and has been whirling in my thoughts for a couple of days now. I've re-read these seven sequential paragraphs slowly a half dozen times and they're still talking to me. I'm posting the passage uncut in the hopes that some of you might think aloud on these things with me. I'd love some company here in the whirlwind.Soul SadnessA Pharisee Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-35351980328461546012008-11-23T06:49:00.001-06:002008-11-23T06:49:00.293-06:00the absurdity of sin.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 4 - Holiness of the Heart: Avoiding Sin and Temptation"Our quest to understand holiness begins with understanding the absurdity of sin.""Sin creates massive disturbances in our lives; holiness brings peace.""A performance-based Christian says, "I want to do this, but I know I shouldn't. I must either find a way to not do this or to not Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-83299808599875932402008-11-22T10:48:00.012-06:002008-11-22T12:02:44.272-06:00happiness unplugged.Today's big news:~Watching TV is for gloomy droopy sadsacks. ~Going to church makes people happy.The New York Times says so. Quoting a new study from the University of Maryland:“We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” Dr. Robinson said. “TV was Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-71977794032960768462008-11-22T10:01:00.006-06:002008-11-22T10:45:34.796-06:00eggs without shells.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 3 - Training the Body and Soul: Seven Methods of Spiritual Training*"One of Satan's favorite traps is to let us acknowledge God's conviction, then cause us to mistakenly assume that just because we are convicted we are changed.""Setting goals but being unwilling to train toward them leaves us worse off than ignoring goals altogether, for Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-22463559607587183572008-11-21T08:28:00.002-06:002008-11-21T14:30:35.062-06:00hell broke apart at His feet.Quotes from Seeking the Face of God by Gary ThomasChapter 2 - Starting at the Finish Line: Spiritual Goals"Jesus chased out ignorance, defeated the demonic, and released the ill and oppressed. In other words, as Jesus walked, hell broke apart at His feet.""Jesus and hell could not occupy the same spot, so wherever Jesus went, hell was dismantled.""I can be immature and reach heaven. I'm not Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10885501.post-39029229236655224852008-11-20T21:17:00.005-06:002008-11-21T14:30:35.063-06:00our lack of wonder.I'll be journalling some quotes here in coming days from Seeking the Face of God by Gary Thomas, which I am reading through at a snail's pace (on purpose).Quotes from Chapter 1: The Journey of Faith"Surely there has never been a more unequal relationship than the one Christ calls us to when He says, "Come, follow Me." Our lack of wonder at the absolute inequality of the relationship is evidence Lynn Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13993480021529143159noreply@blogger.com1