Sabbath Daybook: favorite children's book illustrations & other happy autumn things
Since 2006, I've been scratching away at this and that on the blog. It's an incubator of ideas and a place to draft words. For almost the entire ten years, I've posted weekly a list of links to things I find good, true and beautiful. Recently I've been including one of my favorite quotations from the German poet, Goethe, encouraging us in the value of daily habits of enjoying art in all its forms. This week I'm reminding myself (and you, too) of one of the poems that inspired this whole venture in the first place.
The title for this weekly post has enjoyed several iterations. The most recent version -- Sabbath Daybook -- becauseI keep growing in my understanding of this gift of rest that is also a command. I've talked before about it here and here.
The dictionary definition: Sabbath [sab-uh th] noun
1. the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as the day of rest and religious observance among Jews and some Christians. Ex. 20:8–11.
2. the first day of the week, Sunday, similarly observed by most Christians in commemoration of te Resurrection of Christ.
3. any special day of prayer or rest resembling the Sabbath: e.g., Friday is the Muslim Sabbath.
4. (sometimes lowercase) a period of rest.
Enjoy a few bits of goodness and beauty for your time of rest this weekend. May your hearts and minds and bodies be refreshed to know truth, peace and joy.
Peace, friends.
Here's some of my favorite illustrators for autumn (mostly, but not all, for children's books)
Why not visit an independent bookseller or library this weekend? Indie Bookstore Finder
Maybe even try out a story hour, if you have littles at home. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I do not have littles at home any longer, but I visit the children's section of the library every time I go, and regularly enjoy curling up with a beautiful picture book.
Here's the Spotify playlist I made for autumn: Best Autumn.
Brian and I listened to it from start to finish driving from a visit with friends in Vermont back home to Connecticut this past weekend. The scenery and the soundtrack were a perfect match. I napped through about half of it, which means the music was especially perfect, if you ask me.
If you must read the internet, may I suggest the following?
Walking While Black | Our former rector, Cliff Warner at Christ Church of Austin, recommended this essay a couple of weeks ago. The piece is extraordinarily well-written and important. via Literary Hub
Fetters & Freedom: On Thomas Merton’s vision of transcendence through faith | Brian and I have been reading a lot from Merton lately, and I found this brief biography helpful in understanding the man's conversion and value to 20th-century Christianity. via The New Criterion
Curbed pocket guide to NYC: fall 2016 | 26 places to visit this autumn. We've got a whole bunch of company visiting in the next couple of weeks! via Curbed
Clay-pot-truths from a minister who's also a parent | My brother wrote an excellent post that applies to ministers and parents alike. I'd share it with you even if he didn't quote me (which he did). via Rooted
from the archives:
Alex is baptized! (2011) | October is the month for the annual parish retreat at our former church in Austin. Our son Alex was baptized the first year we lived in Austin, and it was a profound occasion for our whole family. Also, the pictures show you how bad Texas looked during the drought of that horribly hot year - our first.
Parenting is not a covenantal relationship. Marriage is. (2014) | Some background to the article I wrote for Think Christian a couple of years ago. I'll tell you what: As Brian and I enter this season of "empty nest", I am so, so thankful we understood the difference between parenting promises and marriage vows. Like thankful times a billion. It's totally worth it, friends.
I'll leave you with a favorite stanza from Mary Oliver.
from "Sometimes" in Red Bird: poems by Mary Oliver
Be astonished by the good, true and beautiful today, friends.
And, please, drop me a line to tell me all about it.