Grace-given Tree

"Indeed there is health and vitality in keeping an appropriately loose grip on all aspects of our temporal life as a way to acknowledge that all the material bestowments we have are good gifts from God but temporary in their duration." -- Redeeming Singleness by Barry Danylak

I'm genuinely so thankful for the people who paint the lines on roads. Driving is the most dangerous thing a lot of people do every day, and those lines help people stay safe. Stay safe out there!

@noah_nonsense Thanks!

@AEGrandomme Good luck!

I did end up submitting both! 3 poems, two short fiction, and one short narrative non-fiction. I'll hear back sometime in March what they do or don't want to publish.

A professor said I should read the news. I might ask why, because I'm genuinely curious. I've seen the harm news consumption can have on people. I'm always a better informed voter than my dad, despite his consumption of the news, because the news doesn't talk about /our/ ballot.

*other than for research before voting, which I do for the specific people and issues on the ballot when I'm preparing to vote

Finally making the connection between taking Intro to Criminal Justice (and watching the assigned videos) and YouTube sending me more political content. This is where things went astray. I don't see a practical reason for engaging with news*, yet I've been engaging more.

"Do your time the best you can. The people who came before, they sacrificed so you could be here, so you could do something. They gave themselves away. There comes a time when we all have to do that. If we don't, it's like we never lived." -Songs of Deliverance, Marilynn Griffith

Unfortunate that I could not get home for two days this week, but a great blessing that I had a friend who let me stay in her guest room during that time.

@noah_nonsense Ah, that makes sense. Since I took the class that runs the journal a few years ago, I'm pretty familiar with the policies, so I don't think there's really anything I would need to ask before submitting.

@AEGrandomme To find out if they have a "no poetry" policy or something.

Should I submit some of my writing (poetry and/or fiction) to my university's literary journal for them to consider publishing? (Two years ago, they published a creative non-fiction essay I wrote)

@noah_nonsense It's primarily student run, so I don't think emailing the student editors is something that is done. The posters just say to email submissions to the journal's email. Why do you think I should email the editors first?

@AEGrandomme Email the editors first.

@PieterLValk I did it in desperation when my niece was a baby because nothing was helping her calm down, and it stuck. Those kinds of things are really great to have to fall back on when a distraction is all that's needed. It's pretty low-effort, and the kids still think it's hilarious.

@PieterLValk Simple, silly, repetitive actions are really great. My niece & nephew love when I hold them & point to the hygrometer, barometer, & thermometer on the wall, naming the meters in an enthused, sing-song way. They ask for it, & it often helps calm them down when they're upset.

i'm gonna be an uncle

My prayer is that this protection be available to Christians today and that we would seek and find it. I fear we may all be in ideological danger - myself certainly included. May God root us in His truth and may that allow us to see clearly. My prayer is a desperate one.

"To immerse oneself in Christian doctrine and belief was a way of putting distance between oneself and nazism, immunizing oneself against the ideological contagion that held so many Germans in its grip." -- A Noble Treason by Richard Hanser

One of my favorite things when watching a Kdrama with my dad is how amused he is by silly sound effects. When watching My Roommate is a Gumiho, the squeaky sound that accompanied dramatic blinking really got him 😂

I heard yesterday that my uncle is listening to and being influenced by "pod bros." He even listened to Andrew Tate for a while. He was convinced plants are poison and stopped eating them. He wants the 1950s back. It's scary how much influence these guys have over people.

Malachi 1:6 "'A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?' says the Lord of hosts..."

Isaiah 43:18-19