Like many people, I find it challenging to edit (read : delete) work I’ve written. And I think this unfortunate weakness is linked to the pride inherited from Adam’s fall.
Rudyard Kipling wrote a short story in the 1890s that captures some of this pride that makes it so hard to press ‘delete’ .
“He read, and it was wondrous bad, and he paused at all the specifically turgid sentences, expecting a little approval; for he was proud of those sentences, as I knew he would be.
‘It needs compression,’ I suggested cautiously.
‘I hate cutting my things down. I don’t think you could alter a word here without spoiling the sense. It reads better aloud than when I was writing it.’
Source: Rudyard Kipling ‘The Finest Story in the World’ in The Best Short Stories. Hertfordshire, UK: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1997 (1891), p. 70.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Face (and Heart) of Mental Illness
As a volunteer at a program that offers a meal and a warm place to sleep, I frequently encounter people who struggle with serious mental health issues.
Despite their heart-breaking stories, God’s common grace is evident among these people living at the margins.
One of our recent guests, his face sliced by dozens of self-inflicted cuts, decided to buy a box of six doughnuts. He purchased a mixture of flavours, but actually only wanted plain doughnuts, so he peeled off the icing and sprinkles before he ate his snack.
Despite his dire circumstances (he was, after all, at a homeless shelter) he invited another guest, a stranger, to join him enjoy the doughnuts. The man was very grateful.
Praise God for dispensing (and shining) His common grace to and through the mentally afflicted!
Despite their heart-breaking stories, God’s common grace is evident among these people living at the margins.
One of our recent guests, his face sliced by dozens of self-inflicted cuts, decided to buy a box of six doughnuts. He purchased a mixture of flavours, but actually only wanted plain doughnuts, so he peeled off the icing and sprinkles before he ate his snack.
Despite his dire circumstances (he was, after all, at a homeless shelter) he invited another guest, a stranger, to join him enjoy the doughnuts. The man was very grateful.
Praise God for dispensing (and shining) His common grace to and through the mentally afflicted!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
No Ordinary People
"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals to whom we joke with, work with, mary, snub, and expolit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."
C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory" in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. New York: HarperOne, 1949 (2000), p. 46.
C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory" in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. New York: HarperOne, 1949 (2000), p. 46.
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