Because everyone loves a good story
Andrew Peterson’s Easter Offering
Today I won’t be sharing a poem I’ve labored over or a passage of Scripture I’ve meditated on. Instead, on this Good Friday I want to give you a gift that someone else—someone loads more talented—has labored over long and hard. And believe me, you’ll be glad for it.
You may have heard of Andrew Peterson, the Christian songwriter, singer, and author, but did you know he has some fabulous music for this time of year? In fact, he has not one but three albums in celebration of this Lenten season! The albums all share the title Resurrection Letters and are divided into Prologue, Volume 1, and Volume 2. They each have a different purpose, but all are equally fabulous.
The funny thing is that he wrote the albums in reverse order: the first one he made was Resurrection Letters, Volume 2, and then ten years later he released Prologue and Volume 1 just over a month apart. He explains this odd, Star Wars-esque situation this an encouraging, enlightening article on his website, rabbitroom.com. He also shares the struggles and desires that went into the making of such powerful albums. Would you read his article and then join me in worshiping our Savior through these songs? We may have to spend Easter in our own homes this year, but that doesn’t mean we’re alone; we’ll be united in praising the power of God with brothers and sisters from around the globe. And if we celebrate wish this album, we’ll have that in common too!
You can find the music on Youtube and Spotify, but you’ll have to contend with commercials and other annoyances. The better option is to download your very own copies of these albums. Just visit the Rabbit Room store and purchase the Prologue, Volume 1, and Volume 2. Easy peasy! (Wow, it sounds like I’m making some kind of kickback from album sales, but I’m not. I just really appreciate Andrew Peterson’s stuff.)
So no matter where you find yourself this Good Friday, let these songs lead you to worship the Lamb who was slain and was raised again! Hallelujah!
Radical Reasoning
When we see or experience suffering, our first instinct is usually to utter the age-old monosyllable: “Why?” We know that we won’t be given a single, conclusive answer. We may get a jumble of hypotheses from well-meaning friends or a matter-of-fact explanation from a family member. Or, least comforting of all, we’ll be met with silence followed by a hesitating, “Um…I really don’t know.” Well, at least that’s honest. Not helpful, but honest.
But wouldn’t it be great to get a real reason once in a while? What if we could ask the One who actually has the answer to the tormenting query? And what if, even more amazingly, we could hear His reply?
Information Overload
Now, I know you’ve been inundated with COVID-19 information, from news and radio to social media and firsthand experience. I bet your email inbox is flooded with assurances that companies are doing their part to help the community—companies as diverse as Amazon, Dollar General, KFC, and Victoria’s Secret. You’ve probably read conjectures about what we can expect in the future and how we should respond in the present. Some of those are helpful and some aren’t, but all the bases have been covered. There’s really nothing left to say about the virus situation.
But I’ll go ahead and say something anyway.
I don’t claim to have a supernatural, extrabiblical revelation or anything, but I did hear from God this morning. As I read my Bible, God opened my eyes with the story of the man born blind. (Pun intended.) It’s a fairly familiar story, but something that Jesus said stood out to me in a fresh way. Take a look.
John 9:1-7
As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
False Assumptions and a Real Reason
You’ve got to love the disciples. I don’t know for sure what motivated their multiple-choice question to the Maker, but it seems like they wanted to impress Jesus with their astute perception. They reasoned that if there was suffering of this nature, then it must be a punishment for sin. Therefore, the sin belonged either to the man himself or to his parents. Elementary, my dear Watson.
But Jesus’ response came out of left field. Dismissing options A and B, he informed the disciples that the true answer is option C: instead of being a punishment for sin, the man’s blindness is an opportunity to see God at work. “’It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” What a powerful insight! Now, to be thorough, are there situations where there is more to the story? Sure. For example, John Piper shares a short devotional with several Biblical purposes for suffering, and I found it very helpful. So sometimes there is more to the story, but there is never less. All suffering—like all of life—is a platform on which the works of God can be displayed.
Carpe Occasio
Jesus goes on to say, “’We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’” This explanation has layer upon layer, as you’d expect from the Source of all wisdom, but one immediate takeaway is the time crunch. Right now, he says, is the perfect moment to display the works of God. We won’t always have this same chance. Carpe occasio—seize the opportunity.
When he describes himself as the Light of the world, he uses the most fitting description for the situation. The man in question was born blind. While his deepest need was for spiritual sight, Jesus took time to heal his physical sight as well, introducing him to the light and the Light all at once. There are several hypotheses about why Jesus heals him with spit-mud, (Was he creating new eyes from the dust like in Genesis? Was he using tactile means because the man was blind?) but the point is that Jesus healed him. The man had been blind, but now he could see. Jesus also returns to the man later that day and declares himself as Lord. The man was now complete; he saw clearly to worship his healer.
Light in the Darkness
Now, this probably isn’t the best time to start spitting on people. Actually, there probably isn’t a good time to start spitting on people. But this is the perfect time to start seeing and meeting the needs around us. Right now, people are afraid. They’re scared for their families, health, supplies, finances, and futures. For those of us who know the Source of life and peace, what a great chance to share Him!
Rather than saying, “Be warmed and fed,” and then walking away (James 2:16), we have an opportunity to meet real needs—physical and spiritual. My home state of Michigan is currently under quarantine, and your state may be in the same position, so we will have to think outside the box for how to help. It could be as simple as calling a lonely person, baking bread for neighbors, picking up groceries for senior citizens, sewing face masks for healthcare workers, praying with someone who’s afraid, or sending cards through the mail. I’m sure you can come up with a dozen more creative ways. The point is to seize the opportunity. He has called us to be light in the darkness, and this is our moment to shine His love.
On a Mission
After Jesus anointed the man’s eyes with mud, he told him to go wash them off in the pool of Siloam—a word that means “sent.” The man wasn’t just sent to rinse his eyes and get his sight back; he was also sent to tell the good news to everyone. If you’ve been rescued by God, you’ve been sent, too. “And [Jesus] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor. 5:15). In these crazy times, let’s look for ways to live not for ourselves but for God, shining the light of his love to those in need.
Lucas’s Impact on Cinema and Culture
Among America’s film gurus, there’s no doubt that George Lucas is one of the greats. With movie ideas as diverse as retro street racing, African-American pilots in World War 2, an epic space opera, and a history-loving action hero, Lucas’ vision is one-of-a-kind. Have all his ideas been home runs? Definitely not (Hello, Howard the Duck, THX 1138, and Jar Jar Binks), but there’s no denying that his ideas have an extra dollop of magic sauce. So what kind of impact has this creative genius made on the film industry and culture in general? Let’s find out!
HIS CREATIVE IMPACT
A Used Universe
While Lucas’ interests have been diverse, there’s no doubt that he’s most famous for Star Wars. This saga exemplifies many of Lucas’ impacts on film and culture over the years. Creatively, two important effects stand out: the “used universe” design and the complete movie universe.1 Of course Lucas wasn’t the first director/producer to depict his story in a run-down setting, but he was one of the first to make space stuff look old. Until Star Wars, most galactic scenes showed brand new space ships and shiny chrome robots. Everything looked new because, after all, it was the future. Surely things wouldn’t break down or look shabby anymore, right?
Lucas saw the problem with this line of thought and chose instead to make space look just like earth in certain respects; things got rusty, dusty, and broken. This made his universe look lived in, broken in, and believable. It took a special kind of creative genius to conceive of that vision and see it through to the finished product. It worked so well that many directors have implemented the used universe concept ever since.
A Movie Universe
While it’s pretty common to hear about a “movie universe” these days, it was a new concept when Lucas began creating Star Wars. Initially, not even Lucas himself believed it would turn into a massive hit. After the world greeted the first Star Wars movie with such enthusiasm, however, Lucas renamed it Episode IV: A New Hope and continued the process of expanding his story.
Today the concept of the Star Wars universe is ubiquitous. The spinoffs from the original films are too many to number—books, legends, characters and games just keep coming. So how did Lucas pioneer the idea of a movie universe? Well, for starters he was one of the first to envision a whole saga rather than just a few sequel films. While it took decades for the main storyline to wrap up, the side stories are still far from finished. (Disney will make the most of that, I’m sure.) Lucas left room in his movies for plenty of curiosity and imagination. “The characters mention events and places which the films never stop to explore,” says Jack Rear, a writer for verdict.co.uk. “Viewers get a real sense of a universe that goes on much further than the film’s boundaries.”2 Franchises like Marvel and DC owe much to Lucas for this trend.
HIS TECHNICAL IMPACT
Humble Beginnings
Lucas is not only a one-of-a-kind storyteller; he’s also a technical pioneer. You may have heard of Industrial Light and Magic, Lucas’s special effects company, but you may not know its history. ILM was created because Lucas needed special effects for Star Wars, and the studio where he was filming didn’t have a department for that sort of thing. True to his innovative spirit, Lucas didn’t give up; he got creative instead. He scraped together a team of people to make the models and effects that he envisioned, and the outcome was groundbreaking.
For one thing, A New Hope was the first film to use “motion control cameras” to change the angle of the video camera around big model space ships. Sounds pretty lame when I write it like that, but it really was light years ahead of its time. (See what I did there?) Lucas must have been proud of his accomplishment, but he didn’t stop there.
Computer-Generated Genius
Having gotten a taste for the stories he could tell with better effects, Lucas began to delve into computer graphics, assembling a team of gifted geeks for the task as early as 1979.3 One of his main motivations for creating computer graphics in-house was financial: companies that made CGI were out of Lucas’s price range at the time. Good thing, too, because his humble graphics division has created effects for dozens of big-name movies, and it eventually became Pixar! Who knew we should thank George Lucas for Toy Story?
And in case you think Industrial Light and Magic is just a small company with a few techy branches, this may put it into perspective: ILM boasts “more than two-dozen Sci-Tech awards, 15 Oscars, and nearly 300 films. Industrial Light & Magic has contributed to 10 of the top 15 grossing films of all time, and half of the top 50.”4 Even if he’d never done anything else, Lucas’s creation of ILM would still have put him in the history books.
HIS CULTURAL IMPACT
The Undeniable Impact
But although Lucas’s creative and technical feats are impressive, his inspiration affects us on a regular basis, too. For example, think about how often you quote a line from one of his films. If you’re anything like my (admittedly nerdy) family, you probably bust out a quote from Star Wars or Indiana Jones several times a week. Just think: if Lucas had produced The Lord of the Rings, he could have been master over the whole trifecta of quote sources. Unfortunately for him, he was smack in the middle of Star Wars Episodes I-III at the time. His loss.
In addition to hearing quotes from the movies, consider how often you see Star Wars merch—bumper stickers, costumes, and toys are just the beginning. I mean, you probably see at least three Star Wars tee shirt every time you go to the store! Lucas’ vision has directly impacted culture through merchandise, and his wallet is all the fatter for it. One of the most brilliant moves in his career was his choice to forego more cash from A New Hope in favor of the profit from all Star Wars merchandise. Ka-ching!
The Subtle Impact
Although this last cultural impact is less obvious than Darth Vader tee shirts, it’s still a big one. By changing the way that films are made, Lucas changed one of the biggest American industries forever. There’s no doubt that Americans spend an obscene amount of money and time on entertainment, and movies are a huge part of that. That’s why it’s even more amazing to think that most movies we watch today have been influenced by Lucas—technically if not creatively.
When a camera pans smoothly around an object, when a sound effect seems to come out of left field, and when a special effect seems so real that you almost believe it, you can picture Lucas smiling. Well, he doesn’t seem to smile much, but you can picture him feeling satisfied or something. It must be gratifying to know that you’ve changed American film for the better.
THE END AT LAST
When I first concocted the idea to write a few articles about George Lucas, I had no idea it would go this deep or take this long. Apparently it takes a while to discuss even a few aspects of the work he’s done. Who knew? If you’ve tracked along with me for these articles, I thank you, and I congratulate you. If I see you in person, I’ll gladly bestow on you a medal of honor. And now, dear friends, it’s time to ride off into the binary sunset. Until next time, may the force be with you.
Sources:
1 https://www.verdict.co.uk/how-lucas-film-star-wars-changed-cinema-forever/
2 https://www.verdict.co.uk/how-lucas-film-star-wars-changed-cinema-forever/
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Light_%26_Magic
4 http://getinmedia.com/employers/industrial-light-magic
Happy Birthday, PWD!
Two years??
I can’t believe it’s been two years since Past Watchful Dragons was born. I must have been having fun, because time sure did fly. I hope you’ve been having fun, too, because we’ve looked at a lot of exciting stuff since February of 2019. Check it out!
George Lucas
While the first year of PWD was chock full of literary posts, the second year has been a bit more random. The longest series we undertook together was called “The Genius of George Lucas,” and it started with his biography. Then we looked at Star Wars—the successful and the debatable, and we wrapped up with Indiana Jones—the iconic and the unfortunate.
I’ll be finishing the series’ final post next week, and then we can all heave a sigh of completion. If you enjoy nerdy stuff, then I know you enjoyed the series. If that’s not your cup of Jawa juice, then thanks for hanging in there through such an extended series!
Jesus
The number of posts about George Lucas was rivaled only by the amount of Jesus-related articles. We went deep into several passages and ideas, starting with the story of Mary, the sister of Martha. We saw the disciples berate her as wasteful of resources when she sacrificed her precious ointment for Jesus, and we saw her sister tattle on her when Mary chose to worship rather than work. But in both instances, Jesus defended Mary’s choice, and there is life-changing truth there for us.
We also spent several weeks exploring the pitfalls of perfectionism, digging deeper to find the true motives behind it. What we really want isn’t just perfection—it’s actually approval, identity, and rest. God taught me some lasting and valuable truths through these posts.
We also enjoyed several stand-alone posts about Good Friday, real love, New Year resolutions, and the command for introverts to love others. (Ouch.) I truly enjoyed every post about Jesus this year, and I hope you did, too.
Other Stuff
On weeks when I wanted to switch it up, I picked topics that interested me but weren’t literary or spiritual. These bonus topics included stuff like Dr. Seuss, children’s poetry, Gerard Manley Hopkins, springtime, flavors, and my choice to turn Past Watchful Dragons into a biweekly post. That last topic was a hard decision, as you may remember, but I’ve been very thankful for it. I’ve gotten to devote more time to my family, my health, and my other writing dreams. Stay tuned for more about that!
Year Three
Because I’m posting biweekly instead of weekly, there are fewer posts to look back on from 2019, but there’s just as much to celebrate. I’ve enjoyed everything we got to learn together, and I’m excited for this coming year. I hope to share even more about Jesus, life, and especially literature, so don’t touch that dial!
As always, I’d love to hear from you. What do you want to read about on Past Watchful Dragons? Do you have a topic or series you’d like me to consider? What did you enjoy most from 2019? Feel free to comment below, and then go treat yourself to some birthday cake. See you next time!
Indiana Jones: The Flop of Four and the Fear of Five
Know what’s worse than making a bad movie? Making a bad movie as a sequel to three really great movies. Talk about killing the vibe. Have you ever seen the Seinfeld episode where George practices “going out on a high note”? He tries to top the conversation with a great zinger and then leave before he ruins the laughter with a lame follow-up joke. If you haven’t seen that episode, then you’re in good company—apparently Lucas and Spielberg missed it, too.
Granted, that assertion is much more blunt than my norm, but I have a feeling you know what I mean. If you loved the original Indiana Jones trilogy, then you probably didn’t feel the same way about The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So what is it about the most recent film that made it so disappointing? Were there any redeeming qualities? And what about the upcoming Indiana Jones 5? Let’s look at the good, the bad, and the future.
THE GOOD
Nostalgia
In any disappointment, there is bound to be some sort of bright side. For Crystal Skull, that includes some of the nostalgia and some of the new stuff. The film starts out in the Nevada desert where Indy is taken to Hangar 51 to locate a special box. On the way out of the hangar, however, we catch a glimpse of the Ark of the Covenant in its broken crate—a throwback to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Ah, for the good ol’ days of the first film.
Later on, when Dr. Jones is teaching at Marshall College, a large painting of Marcus Brody is visible in the hallway, not to mention the statue of Brody on the college lawn. Indy’s desk at home also displays a treasured artifact—a picture of Henry Jones, Sr. Even the leading lady is nostalgic: Marion is dragged back into the fray, but this time she has a much happier ending. The only one missing is Sallah, who declined to make a token appearance at the wedding. More’s the pity; I like that guy.
New Stuff
It can be tricky to nail nostalgic aspects without straying into sheer sentimentality; that’s why it’s sometimes better to start from scratch to create what will later become memorable. For me, the scene of Indy stumbling onto a nuclear test site was one of these. It felt like a chapter out of a Ray Bradbury novel with all the mannequins poised and ready to melt. Indy’s last-second survival technique of crawling into the lead-lined fridge was classic seat-of-the-pants Jones. While many people hated this scene, I am not among them. I thought it was creative.
Another new aspect was seeing Russia, not Germany, as the enemy nation. The Nazis had a good run in the earlier films, but it was time for a new punching bag. The most gratifying moment of the film, however, was when it seemed like Mutt Williams was going to don the brown fedora at the end of the film, but it was snatched from his (supremely undeserving) hands by the ol’ man himself. That, at least, was a mercy. I don’t think I could have survived seeing that iconic cap on the head of Shia LaBeouf.
THE BAD
Characters
Buckle up for a few paragraphs of negativity. As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t my normal M.O., but I’d like to share a few things that irked me. So, speaking of Shia, I just want to acknowledge how odd it is that they chose him to be Indiana Jones’ son. I mean, of all the 7.5 billion people on planet Earth, why him? Did they think he had the moxie to be the new man in brown? With the combination of his greaser persona on screen and his bizarre life off screen, it was a little too much for me to swallow.
And I hate to say this, but I didn’t enjoy Cate Blanchett’s role either. I normally adore her (although I haven’t watched some of her edgier performances), but this didn’t seem like her finest hour. While I freely acknowledge that I have no accent-mimicking abilities whatsoever, I felt like her Russian pronunciation left much to be desired. They may have wanted the Dr. Elsa Schneider feeling—a bad boss lady who is actually in it for personal motives—but it didn’t ring true to me. I can’t put my finger on what bothered me most about Irina Spalko, but she was certainly no Galadriel.
Humor
Now, I’m all for silly humor. Things like Monty Python’s Holy Grail and “The Ministry of Silly Walks” is right up my alley. But some of the humor in Crystal Skull aimed for my funny bone but whacked my face instead. It felt insulting, to be frank. The repetition of the groundhogs was a swing and a miss to me—they weren’t funny enough to justify their ubiquitous presence.
I also felt like the vine-swinging session between Mutt and the monkeys was off. It could have been worse only if a Wookie had swung by and made the Tarzan noise…again. Granted, there were plenty of clever lines and funny situations, but they don’t stand out to me like these do.
Plot
Overall, the quest for this film’s MacGuffin—the crystal skull of Akator—was a little far-fetched even for Indiana Jones. In previous films he had searched for two Christian relics and one Hindu stone, but in Crystal Skull Lucas strayed from ancient religions to New Age mysticism. While there are some mystics who may believe in the supernatural power of crystal skulls, it’s a pretty small niche. The object of the quest just didn’t feel relatable.
Also, the ending of the original films always included a supernatural display of power: a judgement of God or Shiva on the evil motives of the unworthy seekers. The fourth film attempted this as well, but it turned out pretty trippy. The supernatural appearance at the end of Crystal Skull was the reanimation, unification, and departure of a multi-consciousness, interdimensional being. The temple was a flying saucer in disguise, for crying out loud! It seemed a little too out there, even for Indy.
THE FUTURE
Kathleen Kennedy (the president of the Disney-owned Lucasfilm company) recently verified the continued plans for a fifth installment of the Indy saga, which is set to launch in July of 2021.4 While it’s not a reboot (praise the Lord), it will feature poor Harrison Ford, who will be nearly 79 when it hits the big screen. They say he’s excited to be part of it, but I feel that must be hyperbole.
Is it possible that the movie will actually be good? Sure. Disney has all the resources in the world, so they could definitely make an entertaining movie. But will it feel like the original trilogy? Not a chance. You can’t tell the same joke twice and get the same reaction, and you can’t make a sequel and hope to cash in on the vibe of the original. No matter how good the fifth Indy film is, it won’t be as good as The Last Crusade and therefore goes against the “high note” principle. In short, Crystal Skull has scared the hope out of me.
IN CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it. I’ve never denied being a skeptic, but I do apologize for putting you through a whole post with so little sunshine. I’ll do my best to make up for it next time around. And, for the record, I still think Lucas and Spielberg are geniuses. Even a genius is entitled to make some bad choices now and then. Lucas, I forgive you.
Also, if you missed what I loved about the original trilogy, check out the first and second posts here!
1 Seinfeld Season 9, Episode 16, “The Burning”
2 https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Hangar_51
3 https://www.slashfilm.com/indiana-jones-5-update-wont-be-a-reboot/
Check out the next post here!
Masterful Poems 3: “The Lantern Out of Doors”
“Out of sight is out of mind.”
Never was a truer word spoken. As soon as I walk away from a task for a minute, it’s likely I won’t remember what I was doing until I stumble upon it a while later. This is most tragic when I’m making grilled cheese. But the tendency has an even worse effect: I can often forget to care for people who aren’t in my direct line of contact day in and day out. I fully intend to check up on them, reach out to them, and pray for them, but instead my myopic mind focuses on the people and tasks right in front of me, and I fail to follow through.
Even people with the best memories and the most helpful reminder strategies may still fail to pursue someone when he or she need it most. We can unintentionally contribute to feelings of hurt, loneliness, and maybe worse. Sadly, it’s the nature of humanity to be inconstant; our good intentions aren’t enough. This is just the predicament that today’s poem talks about.
“The Lantern Out of Doors” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Sometimes a lantern moves along the night,
That interests our eyes. And who goes there?
I think; where from and bound, I wonder, where,
With, all down darkness wide, his wading light?
Men go by me whom either beauty bright
In mould or mind or what not else makes rare:
They rain against our much-thick and marsh air
Rich beams, till death or distance buys them quite.
Death or distance soon consumes them: wind
What most I may eye after, be in at the end
I cannot, and out of sight is out of mind.
Christ minds: Christ’s interest, what to avow or amend
There, éyes them, heart wánts, care haúnts, foot fóllows kínd,
Their ránsom, théir rescue, ánd first, fást, last friénd.
My Favorite Poet
You may remember from a previous post that Gerard Manley Hopkins is my favorite poet. He was a Jesuit priest living in England in the mid- to late-1800s, and he wrote the most intricate poems in praise of the Creator. Take a minute to savor the flawless word selection and rhyme scheme in this piece, and after this post be sure to scamper off and read some more of his poems. You won’t regret it!
Now, down to the nitty-gritty.
A Universal Curiosity
Have you ever noticed that our eyes are always drawn to light in the darkness? At night I find myself staring at glowing power buttons in my baby’s room or the headlights passing in front of my house. People glare at the cell phone user in the front of a dark movie theater and grit their teeth. Even Gollum knew he had to give Frodo specific instructions in the Dead Marshes: “Don’t follow the lights.” But once the light is off or gone, we don’t usually continue to think about it. We’ve moved on. After all, it wasn’t that interesting.
In Hopkins’ day, before electricity was made available to people, I’m sure it was even more absorbing to see a lantern passing his window in the night. Hopkins confesses his curiosity and wonders where they’ve come from and where they’re going so late. He watches their light bobbing away, wading through the darkness until it’s out of sight.
The Attraction of Bright Beauty
Unpacking his metaphor, Hopkins muses about the magnetism of certain people. Some folks seem rather ordinary, but there are those whose “beauty bright” attracts our inner eye. He doesn’t mean that physical appearance (“mould”) is the only characteristic that draws us to another person; it could also be their mind, personality, similarities, or “what not else,” so long as they’re “rare”—a light in the darkness.
Those who are blessed with this kind of radiance pierce the thick, damp darkness that often clouds our perception. We’re dimmed by a preoccupation with our own affairs, but the “rich beams” of these souls attract our heart’s gaze…at least until they’re out of sight. Both separation and death effectively remove their light from our vicinity, and then they are gone.
The Sad Truth
No matter how unique a person is, “death or distance soon consumes them,” snuffing out their radiance. Like a lantern winding its way around a bend in the road, their light is gone no matter how hard we peer after it. We cannot be at the end of their road to meet them there, so we are consigned to strain our eyes after them until we give up and move on. After all, “out of sight is out of mind” eventually.
Granted, those most precious to us leave an eternal imprint on our hearts that time does not erase. But Hopkins is probably speaking here about those whose time in our lives is more brief—lanterns passing in the night, if you will. And although the tendency to forget is awful, Hopkins isn’t the only one who struggles with it. In fact, he makes sure to use both “my” and “our” throughout the poem, including us in his confession. He lived cloistered away from society, but he had seen enough of human nature to know that every passion is subject to entropy, and self-absorption is universal.
Our First, Fast, Last Friend
But note the simplicity of this reassurance: “Christ minds.”
He does not simply take a casual interest in us until He gets distracted with something else. He doesn’t even focus His attention on us until we choose to withdraw from Him. Instead, He is the embodiment of commitment and constancy, watching, loving, caring, and pursuing us. We are not a pastime for Him; rather, he pursues us to “avow or amend” what He sees in us. Where we fail to follow through, Christ is faithful.
No mere passive observer, Christ is even our “ransom” and “rescue.” He interposes himself in our danger and accompanies us in our loneliness. We are never out of his sight and, therefore, are never out of his mind. His omnipresence enfolds us, and his light illumines us. He is at the beginning and the end of our journey, and he will not leave us in between. Regardless of the inconstancy of man, Christ is our “first, fast, last friend.”
Source of digital poem text: https://www.bartleby.com/122/10.html
One Word
Choose one word.
Connect. Imagine. Simplify. Transform. Thrive.
Is it just me, or does it seem a little stressful to choose for yourself the one word that will define you—the one word that you can “focus on every day, all year long… One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live.”1 Yikes! How am I supposed to pick just one? I can’t even settle on one task for the next ten minutes, much less one passion for the next 366 days. (Apparently it’s leap year, in case you forgot to muster up one more day’s worth of inspiration.)
No pressure.
Can’t Choose, Won’t Choose
Now, I’m sure a lot of people have chosen very good words and will change and grow accordingly. I’m a little jealous of that, actually, but I don’t think I’ll be able to pull it off. For one thing, I can rarely make a decision and stick with it come what may. As new factors come into play, I usually change my decision accordingly.
For example, I may plan for Monday to be grocery day. There, that’s my word: grocery. I’ll get groceries and do my meal prep. But when Monday turns out to be rainy, I’ll change my word in an instant. Who gets groceries in the rain? That’s miserable. Suddenly, Monday is deep-clean-the-basement day. (A compound word is still a word, right?) But it’s possible that I’ll remember another task in the middle of that, and my word will change again.
One day, my husband will be the patron saint of longsuffering. And facial twitches.
A Nearly-Impossible Standard
Granted, this is not as much a problem with the one-word resolution as it is with my brain. I’m too squirrely. But the idea also feels ever-so-slightly degrading as well. I mean, it’s been only three centuries since Jonathan Edwards wrote his resolutions. He didn’t write just one word, mind you; he wrote 70 complete resolutions. And, lest he forget them, he re-read them every week. He even made a resolution for the occasion of breaking his resolutions: “Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.”2 This guy thought of everything!
In light of that kind of diligence, it’s kind of a bummer to imagine a slouching millennial sipping locally-roasted coffee and scrolling his iPhone 783 for “one-word resolution ideas” by which to direct the course of his year. But I digress.
The Flaw in the System
Regardless of where you fall on the resolution spectrum, I’m sure you’ve made enough resolutions to discover their unsatisfying nature. I don’t even mean our tendency to break or forget them; I mean, if you examine it deeply enough, there is even a kind of emptiness in keeping them. Why is that?
Maybe the trouble with making up our own resolutions is that they can never give us everything we want them to. Sure, if I resolved to stop eating so much sugar and to start working out every day, I would probably start getting fit. That’s just science. And if I resolved to read a book a week, I would probably start getting smarter. That’s just logic. But even though these surface results would inevitably come, I’d still be lacking the fulfillment of their deeper motivations. Let me explain.
The Goal Behind the Goals
Often our desire to be fit is not only a determination to be the healthiest version of ourselves so we can live long and prosper; we also want people to think we look good. Our desire to read books isn’t always about enriching our minds as good stewards; we also want people to think we’re well-read, well-rounded, and well worth conversing with. We want to recycle so we can do our part for the planet but also so others will approve of our responsibility. We want to simplify our belongings so we can be organized but also applauded. We want to be more generous because it’s a good thing to do but also a good thing for others to know that we do.
It’s not a flattering description, to be sure. If you object to my exposing the baser aspects of our motives, know that I feel the same way! I would deny it if I could, but the scrap of honesty inside me forces me to admit how much I want to improve so I can win approval—glory, if you will—from others.
An Age-Old Desire
The truth is, this isn’t a new problem. In fact, Jesus addresses something very similar in John 5. He is talking with the Jewish religious leaders about one of their most sacred resolutions: to search the Scriptures diligently. That sounds like a worthy resolution if I’ve ever heard one. But Jesus exposes their motives and warns them about the emptiness of their pursuit.
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). Jesus sheds light on their action and their motive. Their action is a diligent search of the writings of Moses. They think they will find eternal life, but they’re rejecting the Source of life that the Scriptures are pointing to, namely Jesus.
Full, Yet Empty
So what is their motive? They don’t want Jesus; they want glory—approval—from each other because of their diligence. Sadly, that rotten motive prevented them from benefitting at all because it prevented them from believing. “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (v 44) They didn’t sense their need for God’s approval because they were full of each other’s.
But the tragic truth is that their quest for approval betrayed them in the end. “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (v 45-46). The object of their pursuit would destroy them in the end because they mistook the penultimate thing for the ultimate. The writings of Moses were there to point to Jesus. To miss that is to miss everything, no matter who else is applauding you.
Too Close to Home
“Well, too bad for those Jews 2,000 years ago,” I’m tempted to think. “How unfortunate for them. Good thing it doesn’t have anything to do with me.” But that’s where I’d be wrong. Consider that Jesus’ warning to them would read just about the same if I swapped out their resolution for some of mine.
“You work out, read books, recycle, simplify, and give because you think you’ll get admiration, but these good things are meant to point to me, the Source of all good things. You keep yourself from gaining my approval because you’re so focused on the approval of others. The resolution on which you set your hope will accuse and betray you in the end.” God forbid that I spend all my efforts in penultimate pursuits when the Giver of glory is calling to me! I want to set my hope on the only One whose applause matters.
A Better Word
So this year, while I may not be able to keep 70 resolutions or even choose one perfect word for myself, I think I’m all right with that. Instead, I’ll try to use every pursuit as a means of seeking Jesus, the only Source of approval that can satisfy me in the end.
I guess that’s one word after all.
Jesus.
1 https://oneword365.com
2https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards, Resolution 3.
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