More Marriage Thoughts

I finished reading The Mystery of Marriage last night (erm... early early this morning) and I really do enjoy it. Here are a couple highlights:

"A marriage is not the joining of two worlds, but an abandoning of two worlds in order that a new one might be formed." p. 103

"In marriage, a wife's imperfections are not something a husband can afford to hold against her, but neither can he afford simply to overlook them. Rather he must bear them with her as part of his cross, just as she bears with him. To live with her in love is to experience at close quarters the way she herself struggles with her own humanness." p. 175

"It is not that we are fooled into thinking that our partner is a perfect person... Rather, it is simply that we become willing to see this person as a perfect wife or husband, even as the perfect wife or husband: that is, the perfect one for us, the very one we need." p. 178

My favorite chapter was on Vows.

My only critique of this book is the chapter on submissiveness. While he does a good job of exhausting the topic of mutual submission out of selflessness, he did not expand on the Biblical submissiveness of wives to husbands as outlined in Eph. 5, except to say that it is secondary to the command to submit to one another. While I get what he's saying (sort of) I'm not sure I'm that far over on the spectrum.

Besides that, awesome book. Five stars.

Thought of the Day: Fidelity

One of the oh-so-many books I'm reading right now is called The Myserty of Marriage by Mike Mason. It was written in the mid-80's by a man who had only been married for a couple years, and was mainly composed of his journal as he was in a period of engagement. I'm almost halfway done, and so far it reads a lot like The Four Loves. Rather than being a how-to, or step-by-step guide, it's simply observations and meditations. A lot of the points he makes he connects back to the parallel of our marriage to Christ, and I think the constant switch from husband-wife marriage to Jesus-church marriage exposes details in both relationships that are worth grasping.

Anyways, a quote that I read, reread, underlined, then read again is as follows:

"Certainly, if we cannot be faithful to a living person we can see and touch, how will we ever be faithful to an invisible God?" (p. 92)

Wonderful question, Mike. The fear of infidelity in marriage is becoming more and more real in many relationships today. Does this correspond at all with the straying of people from God? Likely. Being unfaithful to your spouse, even before you marry them, is like giving up hope, and seeking after other gods.

More on this later... of to Alabama tomorrow!

My Sincerest Apologies

This blog has been all but abandoned. I really have no excuse, for over the last ten days I'm sure there is something I could have thought of to be of interest to you all. For instance, right now, I'm reading Persuasion by Jane Austen, baking peanut butter cookies, and preparing to attend a Bible study tonight. Furthermore, I haven't written about my trip to Panama, or the other fifty books I'm reading. I haven't mentioned the sermon series on Esther my pastor is teaching on Sunday nights. I haven't publicly meditated on my parents, which I have been doing a lot recently (though I probably won't, since it's private). I haven't expressed my excitement/anxiety/frustration as I prepare for university in September, or even Pine Cove in July. I haven't mentioned my trip to Alabama on Sunday and my aversion to being a passenger on long car rides (it involves nausea and an all around yuckiness).

All in all, I've been a blogging failure. I think I just burned my cookies too.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to get them out of the oven, and my next post will hopefully be timely, interesting, and significantly less reminiscent of a pity party.

An Ode to Laundry

I know I have posted about air drying and ironing before, but laundry in itself is another step- at least for the sake of this blog. ;)

Some of you may notice the time of this post (midnight) and wonder, "Chelsea, what are you doing up at this hour?!?" Well... I'm out of clean clothes. It's really a process, this whole growing up thing. At Mom's, we sort of rotated doing laundry, but when one person did blacks, you did blacks for everyone, saving on water and such. At Dad's it's every man for himself. I, still determined to save water, like to have as big of a load as possible, and since I still like color sorting to keep my clothes the right shade, it means I have to go through my whole closet until I get piles big enough to wash.

Well, it's either that or wear only back for a week, then only red, and wash as I finish a color. But that's just sad.

In any case, tonight, once I had gotten in my pj's (allowing me to wash today's clothes) I realized I have nothing to wear tomorrow except basketball shorts and a button-up shirt. That just wouldn't do.

I really like doing laundry though. I love sorting- both the process and the finished outcome of color-coordinated piles. I usually have a blacks/dark blue, gray/light blue, red/khaki, and white. I like folding the warm clothes when they come out of the dryer, and knowing that I am preparing someone's next couple weeks for them, even if for now the only loads I'm doing are my own. I look forward to the day when I can help my husband by ensuring he has fresh clothes in his closet- though hopefully it will not be at midnight.

In any case, my blacks are ready to be transferred to the dryer, so I ought to go. Good night, all! :)

Picture by Rachel K: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimonomania/3078224754/ Creative Commons license: Attribution, Noncommercial, Share-Alike License.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I love how Google trades in their trademark logo on random occations for artistic, purposeful ones. Today, there are Dr. Seuss characters spelling out the page title. It reminds me of an art project I did in grade five- a Prismacolor portrait of Theodor Geisel, aka. Dr. Seuss.

When I was younger, we had the One Fish Two Fish VCR tape, which entertained us for hours. We had The Cat in the Hat, The Foot Book, There's a Wocket in my Pocket, and Green Eggs and Ham. At my grandmother's house, there was another great collection. Even today, at the graduation point of my life, speakers read "Oh, the Places You'll Go" to the audience, as mothers wipe tears. He was a unique author, and has been a great literary inspiration to many children over the years.

Sorry my posts are becoming less frequent. Hopefully they'll pick up soon.