A Time to Laugh

Ten Feet Tall

I’ve received some snuggles from my boy before. But I’ve never had an honest-to-goodness lunging toward me and throw-your-arms-around-the-neck-and-give-a-good-squeeze hug until this morning. Made me feel ten feet tall.

Honest — I could live off of that buzz for weeks.

How Firm a Foundation

I love that hymn. I love when you’re singing it, you can feel the First Great Awakening in the rhythm. When you’re singing songs that Christians have sung for years before, you know that God is faithful.

I love how it’s hymn from God to us. He’s reminding us that He’s so very near.

I love that it reminds me that God blesses troubles. He consumes dross and refines gold. He turns ashes to something beautiful, dust into humanity, tragedy into blissful comedy.

I love that it describes God as the ever-present Parent:

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

Hmmm. . . . And then the last verse:

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

I love how the words repeat the writer of Hebrews (13:5) triple superlatives. God will never, ever, ever leave us.

“Wow! Cool!”

It’s funny to hear a little person repeat your most frequent interjections. And to repeat them appropriately and in order. We just turned on Merlin for him, “Wow! Cool!”

Tee-hee.

By the bye, we just figured out “Ah-do” means “hold you.” It took us HOW long with HOW many years of school between us?

His Eye

All’s well!

Our Finch family is growing. They are hatched and alive and well. I saw them breathing there in the geraniums. You can see them in there, see? Yes, so I’m not watering those plants right now. It’s the least I can do. The Finches would do the same for my little one if they could.

Assigning Positive Intent

I’m getting a little irritated with the frequently incorrect use of “assigning positive intent.” It’s used often willy-nilly in AP circles to unintentionally shut down discussion. “Assigning positive intent” (API) means that you as the receiver assumes that the sender of a message means only the best but is ignorant of or unable to do the best thing.

Now, I assume that those of us who are using this incorrectly mean well but are merely uninformed.

Now, as luck would have it, my chosen scholarly expertise has a vocabulary for API too. Kenneth Burke would say that in comedy you treat your Other as your adversary rather than your enemy. You should assume s/he’s uninformed or mistaken rather than evil. This is a better stance because the ignorant must simply be corrected whereas the evil must be expunged or destroyed.

But still blindly accepting everything in a “can’t we all get along?” pluralism is not API or Burkean comedy. We still must be discerning. The difference is that assigning negative intent comes with condemnation whereas assigning positive intent comes with education. To assign no intent is permissiveness.

So this means “Assigning Negative Intent” is not:

• Venting. Often the “assigning negative intent” accusation comes in the middle of vent. Nothing could be more unsupportive.
• Critiquing. If I see a connection between behavior A and behavior B, pointing it out is not assigning negative intent. It’s seeing a connection that might better hone my correction.
• Stating a hunch as a hunch. I’m often perturbed by how the “I have a hunch” is leapt on as assigning negative intent. No, it’s a hunch. It’s not a declaration or even a fact. It’s a hunch.
• Encouraging conversation. Ironically, what happens is the accusation of “assigning negative intent” is usually assigning negative intent to the actions above. Grrrr. . . .

I’ve spent decades learning how to see connections among dissimilar things, learning how to make my Others my adversaries and not my enemies, and learning how to create new common ground. That’s all what API is.

Filling his shoes

God’s Approval

“Until the certainty of God’s approval fills the wells of need in a man’s heart, he will always be tempted to drain life from others, including those nearest and dearest to him.”

Bryan Chapell

I’m giddy. . . .

Last night while Daddy cut the lawn, Mommy and Isaac played with his “bike.” Back and forth on the driveway. Lots of laughing.

And there were two sets of pink, swollen gums I saw in that cackle. Poor dear. Getting teeth.

So we gave him all the appropriate medicine after a good bath that washed the applesauce encrusted sand in this hair down the drain.

And now he just woke up. Eight hours. He slept eight hours. STRAIGHT. What sleep gods did we have to sacrifice to for that to happen? What’d we do right this time? Is he just growing up?

I think one secret is to run him ragged and “put him away wet,” as Grant says.

It’s off.

I submitted it. Just chapters 1 and 2 like he asked. Figured I’d follow the rules. I hope that’s what they are looking for. I’d really be happy if this thing found a home. That would be such a nice answer to prayer.

Me?

He was hoping that his call for manuscripts would catch my eye? ME?

Wow. I’m praying that I choose the best chapters to send him. I’ve already sent my abstract and ToC, and he was interested enough to ask for more to send to the editorial board. He asked for chapters 1 and 2. I hate chapter 2. Sigh. . . . Should I send another chapter or just go with that one?

Wow. Need to pray this one through. Funny that the call and my noticing it didn’t come until after the recent change in administration. Hmmmm. . . .