Weekend Wanderings: Winter Words

by Dawn - February 02, 2018

I read so many wonderful essays this week on the internet. Wise, somber, deep, challenging words that are beautiful and speak hope and life and truth.

Addie Zierman has "been trying, lately, to figure out what it means to be hopeful in this wintering world.What does hope look like in a landscape that keeps erupting into wildfires and tsunamis, landslides and earthquakes? ... the whole world seems to be buried deep underneath the weight of winter itself."

Addie's The Grouundwater of the Soul

Nadine Schroeder wrote a stunning piece called 12 Minute Walks for Off the Page, where she explores all the things there are to forgive, and all the ways we need each other, and how it all adds up to love and many 12 minute walks. And it really did make one cohesive amazing piece of writing.

12 Minute Walks

Kaitlin Wernet's piece for Fathom Magazine about being the 20-something sister of a brother whose life was snuffed out too soon hit so close to home for me, but is also so achingly beautiful -- for everyone. "I’m no longer satisfied with putting off thoughts about heaven until I get there, not when living a life where the youngest die first and the oldest grieve most."

Only the Good

Housewife Theologian Amiee Byrd wrote a thought-provoking piece on sibling relationships between males and females in the early church and the timeless body of Christ. "For both the sake of appearances and the threat of lust and sexual impropriety, Christians are often counseled not to text, email, share a lunch, ride in a car, or even share an elevator unchaperoned with the opposite sex. Is this the way we should be seen treating brothers and sisters in the Lord? Is this how we show the love of Christ to the watching world?"

You Promiscuously Call One Another Brothers and Sisters!

I started reading the bible through, but slowly and thoughtfully with the smart and talented Rebecca K. Reynolds. This piece ties together thematically four chapters and as many mini-stories from Genesis. It is lovely and relevant and you begin to see how the one story of all of scripture is a mirror to your soul.

Rain on a Barren Land

And, finally, some spot-on analysis of The Greatest Showman. by Jenna Badeker for The Rabbit Room.
"I can enjoy the story of characters who quickly regain their footing and crow about their life “from now on.” But I truly identify with and love the stories of characters who have done their time in the trenches, who live in the tension longer than they want to before the payoff comes. This is what feels authentic. The groaning of creation. The people in the desert. The silence of God for hundreds of years. The barrenness for almost a century. A hope deferred."
She isn't hating on this movie-musical. Promise. And if it brings you down instead of ringing true, then listen to the soundtrack and you'll be instantly inspired and flying high again, because it is the feel good movie of the year.

The Greatest Showman (or at least the Fairly Decent Showman)

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