"Work plunges men into the world of things. The Christian steps out of the world of brotherly encounter into the world of impersonal things, the 'it'; and this new encounter frees him for objectivity; for the 'it'-world is only an instrument in the hand of God for the purification of Christians from all self-centeredness and self-seeking. The work of the world can be done only where a person forgets himself, where he loses himself in a cause, in reality, the task, the 'it.' In work the Christian learns to allow himself to be limited by the task, and thus for him the work becomes a remedy against the indolence and sloth of the flesh. The passions of the flesh die in the world of things. But this can happen only where the Christian breaks through the 'it' to the 'Thou,' which is God, who bids him work and makes that work a means of liberation from himself.
"The work does not cease to be work; on the contrary, the hardness and rigor of labor is really sought only by the one who knows what it does for hm. The continuing struggle with the 'it' remains. But at the same time the break-through is made; the unity of prayer and work, the unity of the day is discovered; for to find, back of the 'it' of the day's work, the 'Thou,' which is God, is what Paul calls 'praying without ceasing' (1 Thess. 5:17). Thus the prayer of the Christian reaches beyond its set time and extends into the heart of his work. It includes the whole day, and in doing so, it does not hinder the work; it promotes it, affirms it, and lends it meaning and joy. Thus every word, every work, every labor of the Christian becomes a prayer; not in the unreal sense of a constant turning away from the task that must be done, but in a real breaking through the hard 'it' to the gracious Thou. 'Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus' (Col. 3:17).
"Then from this achieved unity of the day the whole day acquires an order and a discipline. These must be sought and found in the morning prayer and in work they will be maintained. The prayer of the morning will determine the day. Wasted time, which we are ashamed of, temptations that beset us, weakness and listlessness in our work, disorder and indiscipline in our thinking and our relations with people very frequently have their cause in neglect of the morning prayer. The organization and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer. The temptations which the working day brings with it will be overcome by this break-through to God. Decisions which our work demands will be simpler and easier when they are made, not in the fear of men, but solely in the presence of God. 'Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men' (Col. 3:23). Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it is done with the knowledge of God and His command. Our strength and energy for work increase when we have prayed God to give us the strength we need for our daily work."
Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Joshua's First Haircut: A Drama in Three Parts
OK, so maybe not really three parts... But this really was a terribly dramatic experience for our little guy! (And then when I converted the photos to black and white to try to get around some color cast issues, David commented that it isolated the crushing pathos and strong emotion in each one -- and then suggested that I do a side-by-side comparison with Edvard Munch's "The Scream." :))
Yesterday, we took Joshua for his very first big boy haircut! I've trimmed the hair over his ears before, but I wasn't confident in my ability to give him a full haircut. Plus, I really wanted the photo ops at the cute little kids' salon, and had this pretty picture in my head of Joshua giggling away in a brightly-colored chair, and having precious photos of a Big Milestone Moment...
Yeah, it didn't quite happen that way.
Joshua has been a little bit off all week (his naptimes have been fluctuating a little, and daylight savings time didn't help), and he didn't really nap well yesterday afternoon. But he seemed to be in a pretty good mood when we decided to head out to get his hair cut. He brought two of his beloved blocks with him, and happily babbled at me on the drive over.
He was curious, but cautious, when we walked into the salon. Bright colors! Fun noises! Other kids running around! He explored a little while I checked him in, and seemed to be doing fairly well.
He was a little concerned when we strapped him into the chair. And then highly consternated when the strange lady snapped a cape around his neck. But then when she started spraying his head with water, and then scraping at his scalp with a comb?
And then holding his head still and folding his ears down and doing WHO KNOWS WHAT with a metal SOMETHING-OR-OTHER that made SNIPPING SOUNDS? Yikes. Not even his blocks could comfort him.
Poor little guy. He did calm down a bit near the end, when a 7-year-old girl came over and told him all about how she remembered her first haircut and it didn't hurt at all -- such a sweet little moment. :)
And now our adorable little guy looks even more like a handsome little man. I've got to get some photos of him with his new 'do looking happy, but here's at least a not-screaming-in-anguish one:
Poor baby. It'll be a while before we're all ready to try this again... I'm thinking I need to learn how to cut his hair myself!
Yesterday, we took Joshua for his very first big boy haircut! I've trimmed the hair over his ears before, but I wasn't confident in my ability to give him a full haircut. Plus, I really wanted the photo ops at the cute little kids' salon, and had this pretty picture in my head of Joshua giggling away in a brightly-colored chair, and having precious photos of a Big Milestone Moment...
Yeah, it didn't quite happen that way.
Joshua has been a little bit off all week (his naptimes have been fluctuating a little, and daylight savings time didn't help), and he didn't really nap well yesterday afternoon. But he seemed to be in a pretty good mood when we decided to head out to get his hair cut. He brought two of his beloved blocks with him, and happily babbled at me on the drive over.
He was curious, but cautious, when we walked into the salon. Bright colors! Fun noises! Other kids running around! He explored a little while I checked him in, and seemed to be doing fairly well.
He was a little concerned when we strapped him into the chair. And then highly consternated when the strange lady snapped a cape around his neck. But then when she started spraying his head with water, and then scraping at his scalp with a comb?
And then holding his head still and folding his ears down and doing WHO KNOWS WHAT with a metal SOMETHING-OR-OTHER that made SNIPPING SOUNDS? Yikes. Not even his blocks could comfort him.
Poor little guy. He did calm down a bit near the end, when a 7-year-old girl came over and told him all about how she remembered her first haircut and it didn't hurt at all -- such a sweet little moment. :)
And now our adorable little guy looks even more like a handsome little man. I've got to get some photos of him with his new 'do looking happy, but here's at least a not-screaming-in-anguish one:
Poor baby. It'll be a while before we're all ready to try this again... I'm thinking I need to learn how to cut his hair myself!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A golden evening
Friday was an absolutely beautiful day out here in central Jersey -- 75 degrees, perfectly sunny, balmy breezes, just gorgeous. This being New Jersey, we knew that there was a non-trivial chance that we would get snow and ice the next day... So we went out for a pre-dinner family excursion to bask in the beautiful golden evening!
We decided to head down to the battlefield to go for a walk, and to re-introduce Joshua to the great outdoors. The last time he played outside, he wasn't really crawling yet... How quickly they change and grow! So this was Joshua's first experience walking outside!
It's really fascinating viewing the world through his inexperienced eyes. We set him down on the little paved path that runs along Mercer Road, expecting him to take off running as he always does indoors. Instead, he stared at us quizzically, peered at the ground, and took very, very halting steps forward. Every single little variation in the ground posed a puzzle -- is it low enough to step over? Does it require getting down on hands and knees to crawl over it? Is that a hole? Is it shallow enough to walk over it? Is it small enough to walk around it? HOLD ON, is that a strip of GRASS running through the asphalt?
It took him a little while to warm up to the idea of walking along the sidewalk. But our little guy was so brave -- helped in part, I think, by the blocks he clutched in each hand the entire time. I like to think they provided a degree of normalcy and comfort to him, being talismans of the comfortable world of indoor play... :) But after a few minutes, he was running ahead of us gleefully. And by the time we reached the end of the sidewalk, he did NOT want to turn around to walk back!
What a gloriously beautiful evening! And what a perfect way to spend time together as a family!
We decided to head down to the battlefield to go for a walk, and to re-introduce Joshua to the great outdoors. The last time he played outside, he wasn't really crawling yet... How quickly they change and grow! So this was Joshua's first experience walking outside!
It's really fascinating viewing the world through his inexperienced eyes. We set him down on the little paved path that runs along Mercer Road, expecting him to take off running as he always does indoors. Instead, he stared at us quizzically, peered at the ground, and took very, very halting steps forward. Every single little variation in the ground posed a puzzle -- is it low enough to step over? Does it require getting down on hands and knees to crawl over it? Is that a hole? Is it shallow enough to walk over it? Is it small enough to walk around it? HOLD ON, is that a strip of GRASS running through the asphalt?
It took him a little while to warm up to the idea of walking along the sidewalk. But our little guy was so brave -- helped in part, I think, by the blocks he clutched in each hand the entire time. I like to think they provided a degree of normalcy and comfort to him, being talismans of the comfortable world of indoor play... :) But after a few minutes, he was running ahead of us gleefully. And by the time we reached the end of the sidewalk, he did NOT want to turn around to walk back!
What a gloriously beautiful evening! And what a perfect way to spend time together as a family!
