I’ve been reading and meditating on the book of I John in the Bible this week, and the dominant thought that keeps running through my mind is that Jesus commands us to do such a simple thing: to love each other. And we find that simple command so hard to obey. I want to be told to climb mountains, paint great works of art, end world hunger, create technological miracles. Do hard things. And yet the hardest thing of all, the thing I cannot do very well, is love my brothers and sisters, my children, my friends, my enemies. Why not, and what would it look like if we did? What would it look like for Republicans to show love for Democrats and vice-versa? What would it look like in my home for me to truly love my children and my husband “with actions and in truth”? I need to get practical and think of at least one action that I will take this week to love the people that God has placed in my life. Maybe with a lot of practice and by God’s grace I can work up to two acts of selfless love per week in few years.
I also started reading The Search for the Red Dragon by James Owen this week. It’s the sequel to Here, There Be Dragons. (Semicolon review here.) So far, so good, and I’m looking forward to getting back to it after writing this post.
I posted my review of Looking for Alaska by John Green, and the author himself found my review and had some comments. I’m thankful for the frank, but civil and courteous, discussion about young adult literature that my review and questions and Mr. Green’s comments instigated. Take a look if you’re interested in issues of censorship, discernment, and decency in young adult literature.
Semicolon review of Looking for Alaska with related questions.
John Green’s response and comments by readers.
I’m looking forward this week to finishing Mr. Owens’ book and to starting A Bell for Adano, the September selection for Biblically Literate Book Club. I also have the schedule or Semicolon Author Celebrations for the rest of the year posted in the sidebar. I’ll copy the schedule here, too:
September 11: O. Henry, b.1862, d.1910.
September 18: Samuel Johnson, b.1709, d.1784.
October 9: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, b.1547, d.1616.
October 30: John Adams, b.1735, d. 1826.
November 13: Robert Louis Stevenson, b.1850, d.1894.
November 27: Kevin Henkes, b.1960.
December 11: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, b.1918, d.2008.
December 18: Charles Wesley, b.1707, d.1788.
For those who don’t know about my new Author Celebrations, I’m providing a place (linky) on the Thursday birthdays of certain authors where you can come by and read about the author here at Semicolon and also leave a link to your post celebrating that author’s birthday. This Thursday, the 11th of September, we’ll be celebrating the birthday of the famous short story writer, William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry. Everybody’s heard of The Gift of the Magi, but here’s a website where you can taste others of O. Henry’s short stories. Anyone have a suggestion for me and the urchins to read aloud one night this week?
Thanks for giving us the schedule for author celebrations. If you did before, I missed it and they are always upon me before I know it. This time I’ve actually gone and marked my calendar! Very helpful and I look forward to participating in the future.