Monthly Archives: May 2014

As I sit here this morning, a song bird chirps outside the window.  A spider crawls across the floor (where did it come from??), and the sun reflects off a blue sky.

These are things to be thankful for.  I can arise and go out into the outdoors.  I can enjoy a walk across grass and pavement.  This evening I will join others in a Barbeque hosted in a farm yard.  And throughout the day I will venture into nature that God has created.

Not so for all others.  In the hospital lately,  I have visited those whose extent of movement is up and down a hallway – if they can even get out of bed.  Others are living such busy lives that they will miss today’s beauty. 

And so, in thankfulness to the God of creation, I take a moment right now to stop and lift praise to God.

So begins my day!

So, I was thinking about what we do in our post secondary education.

I spent eight years in post-secondary education.  I have seen curriculum revisions.  I have prepared accreditation reports, I have watched faculty agonize over what to teach.  Out of this I have sympathy for teachers who are trying to figure out what to teach.

Then I ran across the following quote, which seems to place liberal arts post secondary institutions in a fossilized position:

Perishing communities (and ideas) produce historians and sociologists and academic conferences. Flourishing communities produce preachers, missionaries and prayer meetings.

Actually, from the day a flourishing community begins they create records (history) and ways of doing things (structure) and enthusiasm (which is measurable). 

I think problems arise when you are studying the movement more than being the movement – you are in trouble. 

Nevertheless, a word to the wise.  Where are your efforts going in your own personal life, in the life of your marriage, in your church, in your community?  If you are sitting back and analyzing and never participating, you are in trouble!

I never thought the English language, per se, would be a great teacher of philosophy.  Perhaps I was wrong.

I was watching a video (click on this to link to the video) by Phuc Tran on the subjunctive use in the English language.  He makes several interesting points – some of which  I am still working through.  Here are some of the thoughts that I wandered away with!

There is a dark side to the subjunctive – that use of English which lets you think about what could happened.  On the far side of that is what should have happened, what we wish would have happened.  We become guilty and depressed.  Accepting things for what they are – the indicativeness of our lives (indicated by the indicative in the English language) – is the first step to overcoming depression and anxiety.

We can be creative or mired in regret when we live in the subjunctive.  The indicative does not allow us to imagine at all, but it does allow us to talk about ourselves and our experiences in real terms.

From some recent readings:

The greatness of one’s life is seen in both the blemishes and the beauty.

The sacred is always full of scars.