January the Second

It occurred to me that one of the virtues of obeying one's parents is that one might learn to live with his/her own will suppressed.

For if one cannot bear the occasionally illogical restrictions and demands laid by his/her parents, how would one learn obedience to an even greater Father whose will may often seem not only unreasonable, but downright preposterous?

Buechner and Moses

[There is a] longing for truth that I think is a deep part of all of us even at our most jaded. [...] Even at our most believing, I think, we have our serious reservations just as even at our most unbelieving we tend to cast a wistful glance over our shoulders.

-- Frederick Buechner, from the preface to 'A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces'


And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

-- Deuteronomy 6:7 (as quoted in Buechner, ibid.)