God Loveth Adverbs

Rumours of Another World, Philip Yancey, pp. 63-64

The Puritans had a saying, "God loveth adverbs," implying that God cares more about the spirit in which we live than the concrete results. They sought to connect all of life to its source in God, bringing the two worlds together rather than dividing them into sacred and secular.

Pleasing God does not mean that we must busy ourselves with a new set of "spiritual" activities. As the Puritans said, whether cleaning house or preaching sermons, shoeing horses or translating the Bible for the Indians, any human activity may constitute an offering to God. In that spirit, Thomas Merton would later remark, "You can tell more about a monk by the wya he uses a broom than by anything he says."

I find it relatively easy to "hallow" God in nature and much harder to hallow the ordinary events of my life. How can I see the mundane tasks that comprise my day as forming any sort of meaningful pattern? How can I bring the two worlds together, reading God into the course of my day?

I heard one clue from the Lutheran professor and author Martin Marty who described his professiona life this way: "I go to work because I have a job that's part of a career, which is part of a profession that I do because of my vocation that is the shape of my life." Marty had grasped the big picture, his calling, which put everything else in place. Somehow the daily tasks required - in his case, grading papers, lectures, committee meetings, writing, and research - fit together as rungs of a ladder leading all the way up to a vocation, a word taken from the Latin for "calling." Marty went on to say that a sense of calling may be the most important step for any who seek fulfilment and meaning.

Some Hebrew Poems...

Recently, the writings of Natan Alterman (1910-1970) sorta made their way to me by way of an Israeli movie I watched. Turns out Alterman was a great poetic genius, and one of the greatest Hebrew Literary giants in recent times. I'll share some of it here... (stealing some bandwidth, but the text shouldn't be copyrighted) If anyone of you out there happens to know how to get his/her hands on the book כוכבים בחוץ Kokhavim Bahuts [Stars Outside] (1938), and hopefully with an English translation, please do tell me!

1938, Nathan Alterman
Stars Outside- כוכבים בחוץ Kokhavim Bahuts
Publisher: Yachdav, Tel Aviv
Translation: Lewis Glinert

Moon
An old sight too has its moment of birth.
A birdless sky
Strange and set apart.
Facing your window on the moonlit night stands
A city plunged in crickets' tears.

And when you see a road still watching for a wayfarer
And the moon
Is on the cypress spear,
You say: 'My God, are all these things still out there?
May one whisper them a greeting?'

From their pools the waters gaze upon us.
The tree is at rest
In a flush of catkin blossoms.
Never shall the sorrow of Your great playthings
Be plucked from me, O our God.

Again the Melody Returns
Again the melody returns, the one you neglected in vain
And the length of the path is still open
And the cloud in its sky and the tree in its rain
Still expect you, the passerby.

And the wind will arise and in flight of swings
The lightning will pass over you
And ewe and doe will bear witness
That you stroked them and kept walking--
(Kokhavim bahuts, p. 7)

You fall asleep and I shall enter
On the floor I shall sit to gaze at you
Silent and strange in your peaceful room
I shall wait for you like your shoes.
(Kokhavim bahuts)


Niggun Atik (An Ancient Melody)
If your tears flow at night like a river,
My joy I shall kindle like straw,
My bed, if you shiver, will warm you,
I shall cover you, sleep on the floor.

If you yearn to join into the dancing
I will play till my bowstrings all break,
If a gift for your birthday you fancy,
My life it is yours, love, to take.

If bread or if wine you are wanting
Head bowed, I will stay on my feet
'Til I’ve sold both my eyes in the market
So my darling can drink and can eat.

But if ever when I am not with you,
you laugh and carouse without thought,
I’ll burn down the rafters above you
With the anger my jealousy’s wrought.

Measuring Time

"The Grey Pilgrim... that is what they used to call me. Three hundred lives of men I’ve walked this earth and now I have no time. Good luck. My search will not be in vain. Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East."

‎darjeeling ‎(08:13 PM)‎ :
why're you bored then?
‎ivy YI ‎(08:14 PM)‎ :
no particular reason. nth happening i guess. if only they move art films to fri.=(
‎darjeeling ‎(08:15 PM)‎ :
haha
‎darjeeling ‎(08:15 PM)‎ :
okie
‎darjeeling ‎(08:16 PM)‎ :
i dunno... i come home fr work each day... and sorta vegetate and sleep early
‎darjeeling ‎(08:16 PM)‎ :
sigh
‎ivy YI ‎(08:16 PM)‎ :
oh no...=( erm..get used to it..?
‎darjeeling ‎(08:16 PM)‎ :
i'll miss my latenights
‎ivy YI ‎(08:16 PM)‎ :
yeah..
‎darjeeling ‎(08:16 PM)‎ :
been spoilt too long hahahah
‎ivy YI ‎(08:17 PM)‎ :
lol..
‎ivy YI ‎(08:17 PM)‎ :
the world kicks u into schedules la.
‎darjeeling ‎(08:17 PM)‎ :
i dun like schedules
‎darjeeling ‎(08:17 PM)‎ :
time is meant to be a measure of your life....
not the other way round where your life now becomes a measure of time
‎ivy YI ‎(08:18 PM)‎ :
yeap.=(
‎darjeeling ‎(08:18 PM)‎ :
hmmm... i actually like that
‎darjeeling ‎(08:18 PM)‎ :
i mean... that statement...
‎darjeeling ‎(08:18 PM)‎ :
haha... just came up w it...
‎ivy YI ‎(08:18 PM)‎ :
oh blog it.
‎ivy YI ‎(08:18 PM)‎ :
haha
‎darjeeling ‎(08:19 PM)‎ :
must be inspiring chatting w you
‎ivy YI ‎(08:19 PM)‎ :
lol