So, I don't really know what to write about, so I decided to let you in on the list of books that I am planning on reading in the next few months:
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
World War Z by Max Brooks
Smith of Wootton Major & Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
State of Fear by Michael Crichton
I've read the Green Rider. I don't remember if it was the full things, or just an abridged version, but one of our old literature books had the Hounds of Baskerville in it.
Okay, so if you didn't know (I believe I mentioned this in a previous post, but just to make sure) I will be preaching at Pleasant Valley for the next year.
It means I will be continuing the teen study. I'm trying to learn from some of things that didn't go as well as I had planned last year, and hopefully these studies will be even better this year.
I'm reducing it to once a month on the second Friday of the month, and from Jan-May we will be focusing on the topic of "God's Plan for My Life" and looking at five different Bible characters, what God's plan for them was, and how we can make applications to our own lives.
I've decided to keep the studies at the Stracks for consistency-sake. If they can't do it one month then I'll work on other arrangements.
So... 6pm, second Friday of the month from Jan-May (taking a break during the summer):
Jan 9 - Joseph
Feb 13 - Ruth
Mar 13 - Daniel
Apr 10 - Esther
May 8 - Jonah
Yeah!!! the teen studies are back! thanks for not doing them in the summer, i get really busy and have like no time other than work, so thanks! im supper excited for them to start again.
I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I remember when I first read CS Lewis's "A Grief Observed" back in college, how I didn't quite understand how he felt. The book is a series of essays he wrote after the death of his wife. And I'm planning on re-reading it shortly, but I can remember some of the most vivid passages about how grief affected him, because now it affects me.
I wonder how does one deal with the loss of a spouse? Someone who is so closely linked, closer than any other person on the Earth. I'm sure the thoughts of what to do about the various pictures and reminders around the house enters the mind, and maybe never goes away. Do you leave up the pictures which are a constant reminder of the joy you once had but are now also a constant reminder of the pain and loss you now feel... Or do you put all of those pictures away in a shoebox and store them somewhere where you will not be reminded on a daily basis?
Is remembering moving on? Or is forgetting moving on? You have to move on one way or the other... life is still left to be lived.
I feel like I am leaning more on the remembering side. I wrote a letter, full of my feelings and my inner most thoughts, that I know will never be read. And I took that and I nailed it above my bed, and on the nail I hung a symbol that reminds me of all the good things of my friend. And... at least, that's how I'm dealing with it. Trying to honor the memory, while moving on. Remembering the positive, and releasing the negative.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I cannot forget. Forgetting would be like forgetting a part of myself. It would be like trying to remove a piece of my heart, and expecting it to still work.
Anyway, I don't know if any of this made sense, but it was highly theraputic for me to write.
don't want you or your visitors to see ads? join gold!
