Dearly I Love You, and Would Be Lov'd Fain

I found this poem over at The Anchoress blog, and I just really need it on my blog, especially today:

Batter my heart, three-person’d God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp’d town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth’d unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

— John Donne

We have been learning about marriage in our Wednesday night Bible studies at church, and as a result, the girls and I have been looking at the different aspects of the time between childhood and 'official' adulthood-- a time to fall in love with the Lord. The young person is becoming more and more independent of her parents, and before she develops a special love for another person, she ought to develop her love for God. This, in combination with our current Bible reading in Exodus (especially focused on the hardness of Pharaoh's heart) helps us particularly to hear the message of this poem. We are hanging it on our refrigerator along with a status update from a wise young friend of Aravis', which reads:

"Finally got it last night at church: you can't know love if you don't know God. I've been given the precious opportunity to fall in love with GOD FIRST before I fall for anyone else."

Phone Calls

I am not a phone person. I cannot hear well on those things, and I cannot see the other person's face or body language, and I do not have the luxury of thinking awhile before responding. AND with the advent of cell phones I tend to completely cut off the sound when I do speak because so often I begin at the same time the other person talks. Don't like phones.

(Email rocks. I'm much better at email. Not texting. Email.)

Which is why this past week has been so surprising... I look forward to answering my cell phone every single day. Mariel is on a three-week trip with her grandparents, touring the southern/eastern U.S. and then taking a cruise to the Caribbean, and she has been calling us regularly to share tidbits of her adventures.

Here, as I can remember them, are her updates:

West Monroe, LA-- "We're trying to outrun the snow! Goggy keeps arguing with the GPS. We ate dinner with friends, and they have the broadest southern accents you ever heard. They are AWESOME."

Tuscaloosa, AL-- "Well, the snow caught up with us. But, guess what? We rode in a sleigh all over the farm in the DARK, and this morning I am sitting in a theater with a real red velvet curtain... we are going to see Charlotte's Web."

Calabash, NC-- "I'm relaxing with Grammy. Everyone relaxes in the evenings and I read books or look at videos of Redwall. I got to drive a GOLF CART!"

Charleston, SC-- "Guess where I'm sitting? In a horse-drawn carriage! We're going to tour the city in it!"

Later-- "Guess what I found? The Atlantic Ocean... and I'm going to swim in it!"

Later-- "Guess where I am? In a boat! And guess where the boat is?" (Charleston?) "Charleston's on the LAND. I'm on the Atlantic Ocean!"

Later-- "Mom, you know Edgar Allen Poe? Well, we drove past the graveyard where Annabel Lee is buried!"

St. Augustine, FL-- "St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States! We're waiting for the trolley in the rain."

Later-- "Mom, guess what? I saw the oldest house in the whole U.S.! It's built with this stuff made out of seashells mixed with sand, I think. The streets of St. Augustine are very narrow, and are covered with tiny seashells. St. Augustine is beautiful!"

Tampa, FL-- "We have a suite with a balcony and an ocean view! It has a room for Goggy and Grammy, and bunkbeds for me, and a kitchen and a sitting area. Tomorrow we are going to Busch Gardens!"

I love that girl. Her calls are an exotic ray of sunshine beaming into our everyday activities. She is having so much fun. The Caribbean portion of her trip begins this weekend.

Afternoon

I hear the dryer running. Our house is quiet. Only Cornflower and I are home. The sun slants in through the wooden blinds onto the floor. The dark black-brown of the bookcase is a satisfying contrast to the warm golden brown of the wall.

Next to my laptop sit several papers covered with chemistry formulas. I should correct them so Aravis can go on to the next module. A coffee fundraising form rests near the bowl of apples. It will not be used. We are not in fundraising mode at this time.

Coffee, red pen and cell phone. I used the red pen to comment on Cornflower's written narrations. I am waiting for Aravis to call me to say she has arrived at her destination. The coffee is for waking up.

It is 3:25 pm. The late afternoon light makes me impatient. It is an in-between time of day, and I find myself waiting for evening.

Cornflower has a cold and a tummy bug. She is watching a movie, listening to it on headphones.

The phone chimes. Aravis has made it in.

Time to correct those chemistry papers.