Pied Beauty

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And All trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adázzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

This makes me happy 'cause we were just in a zoo this week. :)
And in the story of a wee flying elephant, the babies are only cuter...

a toast to toes

I am not much for drawing attention to feet, or at least not to my feet. Less-than-graceful finishes with stubby digits attached, my feet are usually kept well under wraps on formal occasions, and left under the flair ends of jeans on informal ones.

But not today! Today they shine forth with a beauty lavished upon them by my wonderful friend Nancy. Today we see.... toe art!


That's right, ladies and gentlemen, that is my toe you are looking at!! C'est fantastique!!

And to heighten your appreciation for Nancy's amazing toe-adorning skills I want you to know that that flower design was accomplished with the sole instruments of regular nail polish and a toothpick!! Try that Picasso!

So ok, you can tell I'm wowed by her pedicure job (there's one more pic below in case you missed it!), but honestly, if you'd been living with these work-a-day feet for as long as I have, you'd be dancin' too!!



Anyways, good things are happening above my feet as well. Subbing this week couldn't have gone better. I've gotten some great groups of students who were helpful and fun to be with, and even some of the subject matter was stuff I could get into. Yesterday was the high point as I had several periods of Spanish class and was able on multiple occasions to see light bulbs go off and teach students things they never knew before. That, as always, is a rush, and is why I love to teach!


In one sense, subbing is a job full of moments: rowdy moments, silent moments, moments you wish you could save forever. One of my favorite moments so far came a couple of weeks ago. The students were getting settled in class before the bell rang when one of the last students walked through the door. He was, very simply, a small small person and walked with a limp to his spot, which was surrounded by the desks of much larger and more energetic boys. Right away I was worried that they might pick on him and determined to prevent that if possible.

But before I had time to act, they all started to talk and chat about the day. At one point in the conversation the little guy feebly said, "Well, I'm... I'm stupid as mud." He laughed and tried to move on, but the effect was immediate. The faces of the other boys clouded and one of them said, "Hey now! Don't you go around saying things like that about yourself!" It was a priceless moment. They spent the next few minutes explaining how he was, without question, the smartest person in class and urged him to have better thoughts of himself.
I was really struck. When they had the opportunity to hear this guy cut himself down and join in, they did just the opposite - they tried to build him up.

So subbing is full of moments. And though most are times where I simply get to keep doing my job, others remind me of a simple truth. The truth that people, even the unpredictable adolescent ones, will always be people - fallen image bearers of God, but image bearers nonetheless, and in any small way that they reflect Him, unimaginably beautiful and priceless.

God is good
and I love my job
the end :)

God is a Sanctuary

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. (Ezekiel 11:16)


C.S. Spurgeon: Banished from the public means of grace, we are not removed from the grace of the means. The Lord who places His people where they feel as exiles will Himself be with them and be to them all that they could have had at home, in the place of their solemn assemblies. Take this to yourselves, O ye who are called to wander!

God is to His people a place of refuge. They find sanctuary with Him from every adversary, He is their place of worship, too. He is with them as with Jacob when he slept in the open field, and rising, said, "Surely God was in this place," To them also He will be a sanctuary of quite, like the Holy of Holies, which was the noiseless abode of the Eternal. They shall be quiet from fear of evil.

God Himself, in Christ Jesus, is the sanctuary of mercy. The Ark of the Covenant is the Lord Jesus, and Aaron's rod, the pot of manna, the tables of the law, all are in Christ our sanctuary. In God we find the shrine of holiness and of communion. What more do we need? O Lord, fulfill this promise and be ever to us as a little sanctuary!

the feeling

of 2:30 on a Friday

after a good week of subbing

when God has blessed

and driving home

in the sunshine...



is priceless

.

I wept

I really did.

If you never spend another moment on my blog spend your last here. Just the first few minutes or so. Let it play.







.

:D

Subbed today!

woo!!


and in other news, was filling out the fafsa this evening and being that I'm past the big veinte uno in age it said this:

"Student's number of family members in 2009-2010?... 1"
:(

Oh well, I know I'm not really a family of one. On top of having the whole body of Christ for siblings I get a flesh and blood family thrown in too! Yippee!! So there, Fafsa!!

who needs words when you have Beethoven and Beaker??