This present life is not a jest nor a plaything, although men have turned it into a jest and a plaything. They heedlessly play with time, given for preparation for eternity; they play with idle words. They assemble at their friends’, sit and talk idly, and then begin to play at something. They go to theatres, and there both the performers and the spectators only amuse themselves. Others amuse themselves with their mental gifts, with human infirmities or virtues, with the capability of speaking or writing well. Some even amuse themselves with food and drink, using them in excess instead of only using them for satisfying the necessities of hunger and thirst. Some amuse themselves with their clothes, with their faces; they amuse themselves with their children, instead of educating them in faith, piety and the fear of God. Their whole life is an amusement. But woe unto those who thus amuse themselves!

St. John of Kronstadt, “My Life in Christ”

I thought there was something in that list for everyone, something to elicit that little “ouch” of self-recognition no matter what your circumstance. And as always when St. John is excoriating the theater as he knew it in his day, I wonder what in the world he would make of the movies, TV shows, rock concerts and computer games we amuse ourselves with now.

And what about the blogs? Ouch ouch!

After Pascha, I managed to find some time to get around the Ortho-blogosphere a little and came across this post of Jan’s that I really liked. Then in the past week, my work schedule has suddenly exploded and I haven’t had much time to do anything. Well, that’s a story for another blog-post. In the meantime, I really wanted to revisit what Jan observed after reading the Book of Jonah.

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The reign of life has begun, the tyranny of death is ended … This is the day the Lord has made — a day far different from those made when the world was first created, and which are measured by the passage of time. This is the beginning of a new creation. On this day, as the prophet says, God makes a new heaven and a new earth.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

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Our overcast day turned stormy, so it’s a good thing I pulled dandelions yesterday. The neighbors might’ve thought I was just being an overanxious gardener, but in truth I was trying to harvest enough of the roots to get me through the week.

Inspired by a book called “Healing Teas,” I’ve been trying to have a cup of dandelion tea every morning and evening. It’s not that I necessarily buy the author’s claims that dandelions will help your blood pressure and digestion. It’s just that I’ve just noticed that simple, homegrown things make me feel better than mass-produced things with 300 ingredients. So this is just something I’m trying for a month.

I’ve never been the kind of person who harvests dandelion roots, and Greg is looking askance at this whole project. I see the way he eyes the floppy bunches of pulled dandelions on the counter and know he’s wondering if I’ll start wearing earth shoes and saying “far out” next.

I could put his mind at ease if I could say exactly why I’m bothering with this, but I don’t quite know. I actually think it’s tied in with the need more and more people have felt to get into survivalism.

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Given the discussion below about some of the ways that we new and not-so-new converts can get things wrong, I thought today’s lectionary reading from Isaiah was interesting. And maybe a little comforting, at least insofar as it lets you know that the fight isn’t something new. How do we exhibit righteousness without becoming self-righteous? Apparently God’s Chosen People didn’t always know either.

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So here we are in the homestretch of Lent. Passing the fifth Sunday, we bear down on Lazarus’ tomb and Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The Holy Week services are lengthy, to be sure, but they don’t seem like work. The Church has done the work. The standing, the praying, the chanting, reading, listening, repeating don’t seem like work — they seem like breathing.

But I’m not quite ready to take my leave of the Lenten journey yet. I wanted to write down some things I picked up when Protection of the Holy Virgin Monastery in Lake George, CO came to speak to our women’s group. I’m being selfish by blogging this: it’s really just a way to have it all in one place so next year I can remember it. But maybe it’ll be worthwhile for others as well. You never know. Different journeys — one destination.

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Remember the bad feeling I got back HERE about Oprah’s planned Webcasts? Well, she’s done a couple of them now, and my bad feeling has become a downright awful feeling.

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… yogurt.

That’s today’s random Lenten mid-point factoid.

I forgot. Early spring isn’t really a very attractive time of year.
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I finished reading “Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett, and I was really conflicted about whether to say anything about it or not. It’s a hot-selling fictional treatment of how a 12th century English cathedral might have been built. That could have been a great book … heck, judging by the sales, a lot of people thought it was a great book.

My problem is that it seemed like three books rolled into one — one of them was mechanical but fascinating, one of them was surprisingly inspirational for a non-Orthodox work … and the third one was so revolting to me that it may negate any good I’d derive from the other two. So what were those three books?
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