Unlike Klavan the Elder, all of our children were born via caesarean. One was an emergency after 48 hours of ineffectual labor, the staff leaving skid marks on the floor as my wife was wheeled to the OR. Minutes later my second daughter was safely in the incubator, and my wife’s uterus, still the size of a basketball, was being closed by the OB. Didn’t need any coffee that morning. Not much beauty to be had, but knowing that they were both safe was enough.
The others were somewhat less dramatic, but all filled me with an unhitherto experienced emotion; joy. The OR can be an ugly place, and after 48 hours of labor, my daughter (born on my birthday, so we are twins, 41 years and 7 minutes apart) looked like a bug-eyed monster, but yowling lustily. Within hours, the swelling from the labor disappeared, and she responded immediately to my voice, calming her cry. The birth of my first born, also a daughter, showed me what joy actually meant. Nothing else in my life up to that point produced the same emotion; not my proposal, wedding, graduation from school and achieving a lifelong ambition, nothing. It was a totally new and unique sensation, which my wife teased me about while she was still in the OR after delivery. I could not be swayed or vexed, and it was done sweetly.
In joy is an appreciation of beauty as well. Only with our own creation could I come to know this joy, a pale reflection of the joy that awaits us in the presence of our Father. Appreciation of beauty causes joy, but even ugliness (the operating room, with my intubated wife splayed open with her uterus externalized, a squalling butt-ugly infant) brings joy in the appreciation of life and new life. In time, the mere visuals of the moment fade into irrelevance. Joy remains, and with it the appreciation of the beauty. Would it have mattered if my daughter had remained “ugly”? No daughter is ugly in a loving father’s eye. And, no, she is actually quite lovely and loved as are all my children. They may never know how much until and unless they create some of their own.
If you haven’t already, you might want to read C.S. Lewis’s book Surprised by Joy. He describes Joy so well and draws lessons about the nature of God and of ways in which we can mystically encounter Him.
I am filled with joy this morning: Eva Sophia was born today to our daughter!
I read surprised by Joy overnight one night as I was teaching our older son how to sleep through the night. I love CS Lewis. A good read, but it has been 31 years.
John Cleese did a stellar reading of the Screwtape Letters, now available as an mp3 download. Highly recommended. Now demons all have an upper class British accent in my mind.
No, she was about 2 weeks post EDC, but spontaneously began labor. After 48 hours, they added oxytocin, and dilated to 9 cm prior to the umbilical becoming trapped in the pelvis. It was a VBAC, (vaginal birth after ceasarian) attempt. All’s well and all of that.
Indeed: “Inter faeces et urinam nascimur. And yet, out of that mess, that waste, that ugliness, emerges something more beautiful than anything else we know: l’chaim! Life!”
I’m a cop now, but I used to be a farmer: raising turkeys, hens, fish, goats, shrooms, fruit, veggies, and … people. I came to affirm Masanobu Fukuoka’s observation that “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”
After all, that is the whole of creation’s aim, starting in The Garden, in the soil, the True Gardener breathes on dust to make for Himself an object of beauty.
It’s always the dead things that yield the most growth.
I loved Spencer’s description of his unexpected rain soaked walk. I was reminded of the many hikes I have taken in the mountains of Colorado a few miles from my home. I often experience a moment that feels like it was made just for me. A gift from our Creator.
Psalm 90:17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Proverbs 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head.
"The fact that beauty waits for us unseen is, for me, the deepest expression of God’s nature and a hint at the greatest mistake of the modern mind.
Beauty at its most essential has no meaning because it is what is, it is that it is — which is God’s name, after all. Beauty, in other words, is God’s expression of himself.
Science, which has made us smart, has also made us unwise."
BINGO!
A small question I have been asking our Materialist Friends. "If the material is all there is, what is the atomic weight of Beauty?"
I actually understood that Latin without translating it. LOL emoji.
On a more serious note K Senior, some of your Cameron Winter novels are missing from Kindle in the UK. I would have a chat with your publisher. I know I could buy the actual book but then what was the point of buying the kindle? I'm not one of these book sniffers. And I don't live in a mansion with my own personal library. I also prefer CDs to vinyl. I know. Heresy, but the dynamic range is -30dB better and the bass is far more true to life. And they're usually 50p in charity shops. Or 10p for the classical ones. As you've probably gathered, I'm pretty tight.
Blessed are all the pure in heart , for they shall see God.Unquote. Perhaps we have more influence in perceiving Beauty than being in the right place at the right time. Our spiritual vision is improved as we focus on the Savior , the source of all that is good and beautiful, and change our ways to be more obedient and pure. Thanks for your wisdom
Unlike Klavan the Elder, all of our children were born via caesarean. One was an emergency after 48 hours of ineffectual labor, the staff leaving skid marks on the floor as my wife was wheeled to the OR. Minutes later my second daughter was safely in the incubator, and my wife’s uterus, still the size of a basketball, was being closed by the OB. Didn’t need any coffee that morning. Not much beauty to be had, but knowing that they were both safe was enough.
The others were somewhat less dramatic, but all filled me with an unhitherto experienced emotion; joy. The OR can be an ugly place, and after 48 hours of labor, my daughter (born on my birthday, so we are twins, 41 years and 7 minutes apart) looked like a bug-eyed monster, but yowling lustily. Within hours, the swelling from the labor disappeared, and she responded immediately to my voice, calming her cry. The birth of my first born, also a daughter, showed me what joy actually meant. Nothing else in my life up to that point produced the same emotion; not my proposal, wedding, graduation from school and achieving a lifelong ambition, nothing. It was a totally new and unique sensation, which my wife teased me about while she was still in the OR after delivery. I could not be swayed or vexed, and it was done sweetly.
In joy is an appreciation of beauty as well. Only with our own creation could I come to know this joy, a pale reflection of the joy that awaits us in the presence of our Father. Appreciation of beauty causes joy, but even ugliness (the operating room, with my intubated wife splayed open with her uterus externalized, a squalling butt-ugly infant) brings joy in the appreciation of life and new life. In time, the mere visuals of the moment fade into irrelevance. Joy remains, and with it the appreciation of the beauty. Would it have mattered if my daughter had remained “ugly”? No daughter is ugly in a loving father’s eye. And, no, she is actually quite lovely and loved as are all my children. They may never know how much until and unless they create some of their own.
If you haven’t already, you might want to read C.S. Lewis’s book Surprised by Joy. He describes Joy so well and draws lessons about the nature of God and of ways in which we can mystically encounter Him.
I am filled with joy this morning: Eva Sophia was born today to our daughter!
My heartiest congratulations!!
I read surprised by Joy overnight one night as I was teaching our older son how to sleep through the night. I love CS Lewis. A good read, but it has been 31 years.
John Cleese did a stellar reading of the Screwtape Letters, now available as an mp3 download. Highly recommended. Now demons all have an upper class British accent in my mind.
Was she induced? Induction should be banned. It's lazy doctors risking the lives of kids to deliver them at their own convenience.
No, she was about 2 weeks post EDC, but spontaneously began labor. After 48 hours, they added oxytocin, and dilated to 9 cm prior to the umbilical becoming trapped in the pelvis. It was a VBAC, (vaginal birth after ceasarian) attempt. All’s well and all of that.
Indeed: “Inter faeces et urinam nascimur. And yet, out of that mess, that waste, that ugliness, emerges something more beautiful than anything else we know: l’chaim! Life!”
I’m a cop now, but I used to be a farmer: raising turkeys, hens, fish, goats, shrooms, fruit, veggies, and … people. I came to affirm Masanobu Fukuoka’s observation that “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”
After all, that is the whole of creation’s aim, starting in The Garden, in the soil, the True Gardener breathes on dust to make for Himself an object of beauty.
It’s always the dead things that yield the most growth.
Congrats, Hot Gandalf…you made me cry this morning from the truth and beauty spilling from your pen.
I loved Spencer’s description of his unexpected rain soaked walk. I was reminded of the many hikes I have taken in the mountains of Colorado a few miles from my home. I often experience a moment that feels like it was made just for me. A gift from our Creator.
BEAUTY
Psalm 90:17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Proverbs 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head.
"The fact that beauty waits for us unseen is, for me, the deepest expression of God’s nature and a hint at the greatest mistake of the modern mind.
Beauty at its most essential has no meaning because it is what is, it is that it is — which is God’s name, after all. Beauty, in other words, is God’s expression of himself.
Science, which has made us smart, has also made us unwise."
BINGO!
A small question I have been asking our Materialist Friends. "If the material is all there is, what is the atomic weight of Beauty?"
Love this so much! Time to reread Truth and Beauty.
This made me cry. Thank you for this beautiful observation!
I actually understood that Latin without translating it. LOL emoji.
On a more serious note K Senior, some of your Cameron Winter novels are missing from Kindle in the UK. I would have a chat with your publisher. I know I could buy the actual book but then what was the point of buying the kindle? I'm not one of these book sniffers. And I don't live in a mansion with my own personal library. I also prefer CDs to vinyl. I know. Heresy, but the dynamic range is -30dB better and the bass is far more true to life. And they're usually 50p in charity shops. Or 10p for the classical ones. As you've probably gathered, I'm pretty tight.
Indeed, two words stood out, even in Latin, which I haven’t heard very much of since I was about 3yo, before Vatican II.
Blessed are all the pure in heart , for they shall see God.Unquote. Perhaps we have more influence in perceiving Beauty than being in the right place at the right time. Our spiritual vision is improved as we focus on the Savior , the source of all that is good and beautiful, and change our ways to be more obedient and pure. Thanks for your wisdom
Even though I have to pay for it...