OK, so I really don't spend my whole life knitting, a deduction you could be forgiven for from the last week on this blog. Last week I actually went to a funeral for someone I'd never met, which was a first. Then on the weekend I went along to a new Christian Writer's Group, where it was inspiring as always to gather with others who share one's interests. The bent of it was towards fiction however, which is the one thing I don't generally write, so am not sure how that will go in the long term. Those behind it gleaned their ideas from the Arts Fellowship at Redeemer in NYC, and the funny thing is that I'd listened to this talk by Tim Keller (which is worth listening to on creative writing from a Christian worldview) some time ago and thought that what Sydney needs is an Arts Fellowship! Afterwards some of us went for dinner in the city, had great conversation and a girl I'd met that day gave me a lift home. I feel like I have new friends.
Also, mostly over the weekend I read John Piper's A Sweet and Bitter Providence, based on the story of Ruth. It's short and quick to read, but would definitely warrant a slower reading. I liked it, and I really had to pray my way through portions of it. In parts I wasn't totally convinced by his exegesis, for example, he reads, Chapter 2:11-12 and claims that it's because Ruth has taken refuge under the wings of God that the Lord will repay her, it's not a repayment for her service to her mother-in-law. I heartily agree with his conclusions that grace is undeserved, not earnt by our actions, and comes to those who are God's (and thank God for that! - I was quite relieved by his interpretation) but I just wasn't so sure that was the plain way to read what's written. But none of that hindered me from being really encouraged by this book. As the book itself is really a concise series of points you need to read it yourself rather than me trying to be even more concise about it. But do! (You can download it and see the contents here.) Piper always takes a very high view of God's sovereignty, but he demonstrates how and why that is so much more comforting than any alternative. He's also got an interesting spin on the Ruth/Boaz love story and what is really happening there. The previous Saturday we had a women's breakfast at my church, where two women got up to speak on "Ten things I've learned about life" and this book was a a very apt follow on (not deliberately done, as I have had the book for a while now, but it worked very nicely).
At the moment I am trying to read some more of The Death of Adam by Marilynne Robinson, her first collection of essays. If I thought the introduction to The Pilgrim's Regress by CS Lewis was a Pons Asinorum, that's because I'd forgotten about the introduction to this book. One has to adjust the space their brain is in to read it - but that is half the point of me reading it.
That's just a few glancing wisps of fog on something other than knitting. My brain is now too foggy to write any more. One couldn't help but think of Emily Dickinson's poem Wild Nights! last night in that wild, wild sleep-destroying wind, but you'd all be shocked! After dashing through the weather on the way home from the Great Knit-in it took me a while to settle down, unaided by the fact that mother nature never did settle down.