A Word for Wednesday

"In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation."

~C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy~

A Word for Wednesday

"To be ashamed of what you were about to say, to pretend that something which you had meant seriously was only a joke--this is an ignoble part. But it is better than not to be ashamed at all. And the distinction between pretending you are better than you are and beginning to be better in reality is finer than moral sleuthhounds conceive....When a boor first enters the society of courteous people what can he do, for a while, except imitate the motions? How can he learn except by imitation?"

~C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy~

Let's Bust a Recap : The Hiding Place

Wow. Easily one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. 

Let's talk about The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.

The Hiding Place is Corrie ten Boom's own story of surviving the horrific second World War. In this precious gem of a book, we learn all about Corrie's sweet family and their simple life at her beloved Beje, the invasion and occupation of Holland by Nazi Germany, Corrie's involvement and adventures with the illegal underground network that existed during the war to help those hunted and persecuted by the Germans, her arrest and imprisonment which eventually landed her in a women's concentration camp in Germany, and finally her release and her life-giving work after the war. Throughout the entire book are woven the beautiful truths of God's love, hope, forgiveness, joy, grace given just when it is needed, and, impossibly, His perfect goodness.

I have never before felt such opposite emotions all tangled up together inside me while reading one book. The shining blessing of the hope Christ offers contrasts sharply against the ugly despair of the capacity humans have for cruelty. I wavered between being thrilled by the exciting tales of bravery and adventure and being filled with dread and heartache that these events actually happened and that there is so much wickedness in our world. I was inspired and humbled by Corrie and Betsie ten Boom's unshakeable faith in God. I did not make it through one chapter of this book without crying, many times having to put the book down to find a tissue before I could even see through the tears to keep reading. It is quite possibly the most captivating, heartbreaking book I have ever read, and I would not just recommend it, I would urge you to read it.

Have you read The Hiding Place or any of Corrie ten Boom's books? Did you ever get to meet her or hear her speak? She died a few years before I was born, but I'm so thankful that I got to meet her in the pages of this beautiful book. Have any of you been to the crooked house and watchshop on the Barteljorisstraat in Holland and gotten to peek into the secret room?

"There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still."

- Corrie ten Boom -

A Word for Wednesday

"What I like about experience is that it is such an honest thing. You may take any number of wrong turnings; but keep your eyes open and you will not be allowed to go very far before the warning signs appear. You may have deceived yourself, but experience is not trying to deceive you. The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it."

~C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy~

A Tuesday Confession

I know this post isn't going to win me any friends, but I am not on board with this whole essential oils craze.
My friends are all, "Don't you want to get rid of all these toxic chemical cleaners you use and be healthy?" and I'm all, "Pass the bleach and excuse me while I spray everything in my house with Lysol."
It hasn't killed me yet.
In fact, I'd argue that thanks to all these wonderfully effective, bacteria-murdering cleaners, our lifespans have lengthened and our quality of living has improved.
But that's just me.
You do you.

Let's Bust a Recap : Hamlet

To be, or not to be: that is the question. Time for a recap of Hamlet and fun fact: last year I read my Shakespearean comedy in February and my tragedy in August, and that's what I ended up doing again this year. Not planned. Ha! 

Anyway, if you're not familiar with the drill around here, generally my recaps do not give any major plot points away but when it comes to Shakespeare, I basically give the CliffsNotes version. So what I'm saying is SPOILERS. If you don't want to know how everything ends, scram.

And speaking of how it all ends: everybody dies. Literally. Everybody. But let's back up a little.

At the beginning of the play, we learn that Hamlet's father (the king of Denmark) has recently died and in very little time, his mother (the queen) married his uncle (the new king). Yuck. Hamlet is obviously reeling with all this and grieving his father's death.

Hamlet's BFF Horatio sees Hamlet's father's ghost and takes Hamlet to see him as well. When the ghost appears to Hamlet, they have a little heart-to-heart about how he really died. Hamlet's uncle murdered him and now he's counting on Hamlet to get vengeance. 

Well, Hamlet starts acting crazy and everyone thinks he's plumb lost his mind. The King and Queen commission Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to figure out what's wrong with him, but Hamlet sees through that charade and doesn't give anything up to those two goons. 

Before he goes all Inigo Montoya on his uncle, Hamlet decides to put on a little play for his mom and uncle to see if his ghost daddy is for real or from the Devil. He basically writes a play depicting what supposedly went down in real life (his uncle poisoning his brother the king and marrying the queen and becoming king himself) to see how his uncle will react.

His uncle is GUILTY. 

The Queen calls her son into her closet to ask what this is all about while the King monologues about how he's being eaten alive with the guilt and what is he going to do about Hamlet who is obviously on to him and blah blah blah. 

While Hamlet is closeted with his mother, he inadvertently kills Polonius who is eavesdropping on their conversation. (That's what you get for meddling, Polonius.) The King and Queen ultimately decide to send Hamlet away to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern "for his own good". The king, however, also sends a missive with R&G basically ordering Hamlet's execution. Hamlet's no dope though so he switches out the king's orders with a message of his own that the letter bearers should be executed. (The letter bearers are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for anyone who's starting to get a little lost.) Hamlet doesn't even feel bad about it because R&G are totally #TeamKing instead of #TeamHamlet. 

In the meantime, Laertes has come back to avenge his father Polonius' death. He finds that his sister Ophelia (Hamlet's one true love) has gone insane which adds more fuel to his fire. He concocts a plot with the King to invite Hamlet to a friendly duel in which Laertes will poison his sword so that when he strikes Hamlet, Hamlet will definitely die. And the King will poison Hamlet's drink, just for good measure. 

We have a whole little scene with Hamlet, Horatio, and two grave-digging clowns in which Hamlet talks to a bunch of skulls. Whatever.

Then we have Ophelia's funeral. Did I mention Ophelia committed suicide? Laertes, in his grief-stricken state,  actually jumps in the grave with her at which point, Hamlet can't take it and jumps in too because the love of 40,000 brothers can't even come close to the love he had for Ophelia. Hamlet and Laertes go at each other, but the King pulls Laertes off Hamlet and is all, "Stick to the plan, bro." Everybody makes nice and goes their separate ways.

Next we have Osric coming to get Hamlet to participate in the duel with Laertes. The duel is presented to Hamlet as a friendly wager, no big deal. Hamlet goes to the duel (against his better judgment) and what do you think happens? 

The Queen accidentally drinks the poison meant for Hamlet and dies.

Laertes stabs Hamlet with his poison sword, but they scuffle, Hamlet ends up with the poison sword and stabs Laertes back. Laertes feels bad about the whole thing and confesses all to Hamlet with his dying breath. Laertes dies.

Hamlet uses the last of his strength to stab the King with the poison sword, the King dies.

Hamlet says a few last words to Horatio about how he'll be remembered and dies. 

To sum up:

Polonius dies.

Ophelia dies.

The Queen dies.

Laertes dies.

The King dies.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die.

Hamlet dies.

Everybody dies. 

Oh and then Fortinbras shows up with his army, but that's a whole different story that was going on throughout the entire play and I just didn't really care about it that much.

Hamlet is the longest play I've read so far and the second tragedy. Of the two tragedies, I personally liked Macbeth better, but Hamlet was also very good. Even though everyone dies, Hamlet seemed lighter and more comical than Macbeth. 

Read it, it's Shakespeare. 

I'm leaning towards Othello for my 2018 tragedy, but I'm open to suggestions. What do you think? Have you read Hamlet? What's your favorite Shakespearean tragedy?

A Word for Wednesday

"County Down in the holidays and Surrey in the term--it was an excellent contrast. 

Perhaps, since their beauties were such that even a fool could not force them into comparison, 

this cured me once and for all of the pernicious tendency to compare and to prefer--an operation that does little good even when we are dealing with works of art 

and endless harm when we are dealing with nature. 

Total surrender is the first step toward the fruition of either. 

Shut your mouth; open your eyes and ears. 

Take in what is there and give no thought to what might have been there or what is somewhere else. That can come later, if it must come at all."

~C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy~