It happened again today. I was told I look like Shel Silverstein.
Which is Sam? Which is Shel?
If only I could write like Shel Silverstein.
But he can’t write like me, either. I’m sure this is devastating news for him.
I know Advent is over for this year and we’re on day 4 of Christmas, but I wanted to share this now. Because, one day, there will be no more Advent season and that’s the glory we anticipate when Advent suddenly becomes Christmas every year. I love the season of Advent. I hope it is over forever soon. –Sam
“The story we tell every Advent, like the story we tell every Sunday, is an old one. It is familiar like a children’s tune, like the moon. But it must be told again. We share the story of Advent every year at this time. We share it with the older generations as well as our children and grandchildren. We share it to remember whom we are waiting for. We share it to remind one another to wait with hope. We share it because it is worth sharing, worth repeating, worth telling. As familiar as the story is, it is still true. And one day, one of these Advents will be the last one.”
Thomas McKenzie, from Familiar as the Moon, posted at The Rabbit Room
Every year I can’t remember why today, Boxing Day, is called Boxing Day. Then I look it up and realize people aren’t positively sure why. (Boxes for the needy seems to be the favorite.)
When I was first introduced to Boxing Day as a mere lad in the commonwealth nation of South Africa, I had the distinct impression it had something to do with all the boxes one would have after Christmas. A child’s fancy? Probably. I was likely still dazed from spending my first African Christmas swimming and eating watermelon.
Of course, it’s also St. Stephen’s Day and only the second day of Christmas. With ten more to follow!
What’s your theory on the origins of Boxing Day? Evolution? Creation? Let’s fight about it!
O God, you make us glad
by the yearly festival
of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer,
may with sure confidence
behold him when he comes to be our Judge;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer
The Adoration of the Shepherds by Rembrandt
Billy braced for impact. The truck’s not slowing! It’ll end like this?
He scrambled, a last-ditch effort to defy death, to slip into another moment. He dove, but was too late. The truck was on him.
Billy stood. Unharmed!
He was confused. How?! But, it had happened.
He cried out, thrilled.
Then, around the bend sped another truck, inches away. Again, Billy braced for impact. No time to move. This truck must end him.
But it happened again. The truck barreled on and he was somehow unharmed.
“I’ve got to stay off the road. I’m going to get killed.”
This is my effort in the annual Advent Ghosts 100 Word Storytelling put on by my friend Loren Eaton at I Saw Lightning Fall. See other entries there. Thanks, Loren.
Image by Martin Gommel
“You ought to live your life with such freedom and joy that uptight Christians will doubt your salvation.”
Steve Brown
HT: TClair
The fine gents over at Brandywine Books (the first blog I ever read) have revealed (to me) the existence of an audio recording of Flannery O’Connor reading A Good Man is Hard to Find at Vanderbilt University in 1959. Thanks, Phil.
I have mixed feelings about O’Connor. I appreciate her work on many levels and yet I am not –to my surprise, given the wide agreement I share with her many admirers– very much taken with her work. I have guessed that it is a matter of seasons of life. In another season, I shall likely find her a treasure. This kind of thing happens.
But, if you are, or are not, captivated by the spell of this Southern treasure, you may enjoy this fascinating recording. I really enjoyed it.
I am sure I shall finally and fully be convinced of O’Connor’s brilliance when I read this upcoming book by my friend and fellow pants-wearer, Jonathan Rogers.
