Veronica Boulden

 

Avril turned eleven today. We just gave her three new Lego sets in the morning right after chores and we spent the day putting those together.   In the evening, we feasted on steak, creamed spinach, and sautéed mushrooms and onions.  We had cheesecake, one that had a variety of flavors. For fun, Avril wore a crown of laurels, part of her Guinevere costume, but it seemed so appropriate to crown her on her day, we may make a crown a tradition on birthdays.

Christ in the garden teaches me that in this life, I may be asked to suffer precisely because I don't deserve to suffer. Mostly I suffer for my own choices. But sometimes, the cup set before me is filled with the consequences of other people's choices and if I choose those people, I must partake of the cup they poured, naturally. So I see the sinless Christ choosing others, drinking down the cup of suffering to its very dregs. He drank all of it, so He could have all of us. But first, He did pray, "If it is possible, take this cup from me..." And I am glad for that prayer, knowing He has been here before me. For sinful me, facing one drop of suffering that belongs to someone else is like drinking an ocean. But the kneeling Christ inspires me to choose others, reminds me, I am not alone in this, my Gethsemane.

This makes me reconsider Jesus, who touched a coffin and a leper, and spoke in radical, subversive parables, one about a Good Samaritan, who may have been judged for touching the unclean, disqualifying and contaminating himself, risking everyone, ignoring the law. I’m not making a declaration, just recognizing (as I watch church online) the ancient Scripture is still relevant, because it’s True.

I begin to understand why and how Plato was able to write down the dialogues. This happened today and the words matter so much to us, Norah helped me recall it and record it, so we'd have an artifact. Norah: In this book I am reading, the gods don't have names, because they know each other as they are, so they don't need names to represent themselves to each other. Me: That's interesting. When Moses asked for God's name to represent him to Pharaoh, he said, "Who shall I say sent me?" God said, "I am that I am." God chose a name that represents His being. Norah: But names are important. Words are important. They represent concepts. Me: Do words matter so much because of how God made the earth? He spoke it into existence. Is this why words matter? Norah: But words are limited. In fact, words are limitations. So, is a thing a word? Me: What? Norah: Is the relationship between a name and what a name represents the same as a thing and what a thing