Blogger Potpourri

It's the August tornado again, when parents and kids and people who don't transition well are sucked up into a whirlwind of new schools, new schedules, new activities, new people, new everything. Every year I promise myself I'll do it better than I did the year before, and every year I find tears trickling randomly down my cheek at the oddest times. Last year I sent my last child to all-day school for the first time. This year's transition is sending my son to high school and my oldest daughter to junior high, which if you didn't know it, is entirely different than sending a son to junior high.

If I were to sit down and write something right now, the sappiness would either bore or embarrass you to tears. So I'll spare you that and instead link to a few other great sites that have challenged me in the past week.

Give Me Gratitude or Give Me Debt should be mandatory reading for every middle-class woman in America. God did not design us to be slaves to our discontent. Preach it, Glennon!

This next one, on courtship, is long and may have a narrow audience, but it rocked my world. These are the dating thoughts I've been having as long as I've been parenting, but they weren't nearly this well developed, researched, or articulated. Personally, I think this is a breath of fresh air in our tight, controlled evangelical circles, although I know others will disagree. Dating children are still down the road a bit for us, but I'm always pondering and refining my philosophies, just in case. Would love to interact with any of you who have thoughts on this.


And finally, in honor of a transition time of year, a time when God brings new people, and with them new challenges, into our lives, I share my favorite non-C.S. Lewis quote of all time:

"Every day I put love on the line. There is nothing I am less good at than love. I am far better in competition than in love. I am far better at responding to my instincts and ambitions to get ahead and make my mark than I am at figuring out how to love another. I am schooled and trained in acquisitive skills, in getting my own way. And yet I decide every day, to set aside what I do best and attempt what I do very clumsily--open myself to the frustrations and failures of loving, daring to believe that failing in love is better than succeeding in pride." (Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction)