Random thoughts on loneliness, a recent article about Elizabeth Elliot, tears on Ash Wednesday, taking a bite out of my personality, and readings from Thomas Merton
Thank you, Janell. While I was reading some articles on Substack, it dawned on me that some of my favorite articles are ones that are formatted like this. Like yours with Apertures and Jeff Chu’s fragmented thoughts. ❤️
Thanks friend. ❤️ I love that it allows us to write and chase down all the tiny things we read or receive in our lives, stuff "tossed aside " for the bigger project. :) But it all means something.
Colette, I really enjoyed this collection of excerpts and reflections! I was engrossed by the article on Elisabeth Elliot… so much there. Thank you for including me and sharing my work! Deep bow to your offerings in this space 🙏🏼
A very interesting collection! I'm looking forward to next month's already :)
I had never heard of Elisabeth Elliot, and a google showed me that I was unfamiliar with a single book she has written. I am curious if this is an evangelical vs. non-evangelical difference? (my childhood church was the latter)
Your essayettes about the Ash Wednesday Ambush and Essence consuming Personality married quite nicely together. I have only participated in an Ash Wednesday service like that once that I can recall, and it also brought me to tears. I love your little shift around playing frisbee with your dog; I did something similar at work with a pesky task and was able to improve my work outlook dramatically by this little shift.
Your thoughts on loneliness seem to tie in well with these two also; the way you describe spending time alone you make it sound very antithetical to your personality - perhaps your Essence was gnawing at it a bit this month? As someone whose partner is often gone for work, I've had to lean into what I enjoy about my time alone so that I do not wallow in loneliness. I've also had to recognize when the house has become sticky with glue and I need to break the seal and get out to a grocery store or a park or otherwise surround myself with other beings. (Wrestling with these feelings has been great inspiration for songs over the years, like this one: https://youtu.be/kmPG4arhjUQ?si=ESrEdjnjTXI04Fmj )
Thank you for the basket of thoughts to consider; and for reminding me that this is a Leap Year - what a delight!
Thank you, Jaclynn for your thoughts and your music! Such a beautiful song with so much heart and vulnerability. Thank you for sharing that with me! You also reminded me that I need to make sure to connect my thoughts specially to my evangelical upbringing as not all my readers come from that background. Elizabeth Elliot was basically the poster child for the purity movement for the Evangelical tradition in the 90s along with others like Joshua Harris and John Eldridge. I'll make sure to give more background in the future!
Not a critique at all! More like it just opens my eyes to the fact that the Christian experience was very different in our country as a kid, depending on what denomination you grew up in. I feel like that is less the case nowadays, and I think a lot of that has to do with social media cross-pollinating preachy posts. I didn't consider my family as using much "christianese" - especially not outside of church - and yet now they are often telling me what a 'blessing' that was or 'praise God' that this happened. The way my family expresses their faith through wordchoice in the everyday sounds much more like the stereotypical evangelical to me. And I will admit: it irks me!
Colette, this is the best idea ever. LOVE it
Thank you, Janell. While I was reading some articles on Substack, it dawned on me that some of my favorite articles are ones that are formatted like this. Like yours with Apertures and Jeff Chu’s fragmented thoughts. ❤️
Thanks friend. ❤️ I love that it allows us to write and chase down all the tiny things we read or receive in our lives, stuff "tossed aside " for the bigger project. :) But it all means something.
Colette, I really enjoyed this collection of excerpts and reflections! I was engrossed by the article on Elisabeth Elliot… so much there. Thank you for including me and sharing my work! Deep bow to your offerings in this space 🙏🏼
Thank you so much, Jane! And I had to read through that article a couple of times, there is a lot there to unpack. Blessings to you!
A very interesting collection! I'm looking forward to next month's already :)
I had never heard of Elisabeth Elliot, and a google showed me that I was unfamiliar with a single book she has written. I am curious if this is an evangelical vs. non-evangelical difference? (my childhood church was the latter)
Your essayettes about the Ash Wednesday Ambush and Essence consuming Personality married quite nicely together. I have only participated in an Ash Wednesday service like that once that I can recall, and it also brought me to tears. I love your little shift around playing frisbee with your dog; I did something similar at work with a pesky task and was able to improve my work outlook dramatically by this little shift.
Your thoughts on loneliness seem to tie in well with these two also; the way you describe spending time alone you make it sound very antithetical to your personality - perhaps your Essence was gnawing at it a bit this month? As someone whose partner is often gone for work, I've had to lean into what I enjoy about my time alone so that I do not wallow in loneliness. I've also had to recognize when the house has become sticky with glue and I need to break the seal and get out to a grocery store or a park or otherwise surround myself with other beings. (Wrestling with these feelings has been great inspiration for songs over the years, like this one: https://youtu.be/kmPG4arhjUQ?si=ESrEdjnjTXI04Fmj )
Thank you for the basket of thoughts to consider; and for reminding me that this is a Leap Year - what a delight!
Thank you, Jaclynn for your thoughts and your music! Such a beautiful song with so much heart and vulnerability. Thank you for sharing that with me! You also reminded me that I need to make sure to connect my thoughts specially to my evangelical upbringing as not all my readers come from that background. Elizabeth Elliot was basically the poster child for the purity movement for the Evangelical tradition in the 90s along with others like Joshua Harris and John Eldridge. I'll make sure to give more background in the future!
Not a critique at all! More like it just opens my eyes to the fact that the Christian experience was very different in our country as a kid, depending on what denomination you grew up in. I feel like that is less the case nowadays, and I think a lot of that has to do with social media cross-pollinating preachy posts. I didn't consider my family as using much "christianese" - especially not outside of church - and yet now they are often telling me what a 'blessing' that was or 'praise God' that this happened. The way my family expresses their faith through wordchoice in the everyday sounds much more like the stereotypical evangelical to me. And I will admit: it irks me!