Continuing the quotation from Kierkegaard (see previous post):

You have loved us first, o God. Alas, we speak of it in terms of history, as if you have only loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing you have loved us first many times and every day and our whole life through. When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You--You are the first--You have loved us first; if I arise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward You, You are there ahead of me, You have loved me first. When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul toward You, You are the first and thus forever. And yet we always speak ungratefully as if You have loved us first only once.

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I spent yesterday sleeping and reading. Isn't that just about perfect? The last 4 hours of the evening I was consumed in reading and finishing The Return of the King. These books have restored to me the great joy of reading. It's been a long time since I've known the deep pleasure of being enraptured by a book. This was the pleasure I knew as a child. It seemed, and still seems, like something deeply important. More by far than simply whiling the time with a pleasant fantasy. Tolkien awakened me. That's what it feels like, and that's what it felt like when I first read his books as a young man. Maybe all our lives are just a struggle to wake up, and so we need these gentle nudges. A good book is like a breeze at the window, stirring the curtains. Did you forget, my son, that you are alive, and the world is beautiful?

***

These are the people I know that need jobs right now: Terri, Rick, Caleb, Elias, Gift, Nate. There may be others, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Please pray for them, you who read these names.