It's been a long time since I've written anything about and/or for my brothers. It's been a long time since I've worked on Storge. But I must admit that I find myself in a strange position these days that makes it more difficult than it used to be: I'm married now.
As a married person, I have no idea how to relate to my brothers properly. I think I'll have to learn all over again. Maybe I don't, but I feel like I will. There's a certain strange shyness now that wasn't there before. There's also a definite fear of whether or not simple sisterly friendliness will be mistaken as something inappropriate. I would say that I'm working on it, but currently I'm really not. It's not that I don't want to, I just don't have much opportunity nowadays.
But fear not, I'm sure God will give me brothers when He means to give me brothers and, until then, I'll be working on relating well and properly to Jesus, and to my closest earthly friend and most admired christian brother, my husband.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Monday, October 12, 2009
philosophies of love
today was a very exciting day in philosophy of love class. we talked about storge! (YES!) and i got to learn some fun dimensions of this specific and special type of love that i didn't know before...and the more that i learn about it the more i like it. but instead of just talking about it i'll tell you some of what i learned and why i like it so much more that i know more about it. :-)
the text of the day was the affection chapter of c.s. lewis' the four loves. he used the word affection for storge but i like the word storge so i'll use them interchangeably. first, we talked about words to associate with affection like fondness, tenderness, kindness, or compassion. so many good words! i like them all so much and they all make me so happy (by the end of the class i was grinning from ear to ear and i might have been bouncing up and down in my chair either from caffeine or excitement {lol, prof hamilton understands :-)}.
then we moved on to talking about how storge is the humblest of loves, that it doesn't demand things and that it has a quiet nature about it (almost like it enjoys serving and helping just because, and it doesn't actually want the credit for it). after this, we moved right along to discussing how storge is distinct from all of the other sorts of love and how it might lead to or overlap other types of love but it can also stand all by itself, it can be the medium on which other loves are drawn but it doesn't need to be drawn on to be beautiful.
finally (because it's only a fifty minute class) we spoke about the possibility of mistaking storge for other types of love and the dangers of such a mistake and we finished with talking about how affection can bring unity to those who might not be united in any other way (like brothers and sister in Christ who inhabit all parts of the globe!).
that is the update for now, i'll tell you more once i write the five page paper that i get to write on storge love :-)
the text of the day was the affection chapter of c.s. lewis' the four loves. he used the word affection for storge but i like the word storge so i'll use them interchangeably. first, we talked about words to associate with affection like fondness, tenderness, kindness, or compassion. so many good words! i like them all so much and they all make me so happy (by the end of the class i was grinning from ear to ear and i might have been bouncing up and down in my chair either from caffeine or excitement {lol, prof hamilton understands :-)}.
then we moved on to talking about how storge is the humblest of loves, that it doesn't demand things and that it has a quiet nature about it (almost like it enjoys serving and helping just because, and it doesn't actually want the credit for it). after this, we moved right along to discussing how storge is distinct from all of the other sorts of love and how it might lead to or overlap other types of love but it can also stand all by itself, it can be the medium on which other loves are drawn but it doesn't need to be drawn on to be beautiful.
finally (because it's only a fifty minute class) we spoke about the possibility of mistaking storge for other types of love and the dangers of such a mistake and we finished with talking about how affection can bring unity to those who might not be united in any other way (like brothers and sister in Christ who inhabit all parts of the globe!).
that is the update for now, i'll tell you more once i write the five page paper that i get to write on storge love :-)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
oh look, a book!
so, i'm writing this book and it's nearly finished...a bit of editing and cover making and stuff and it'll be ready. but i haven't told you very much about this book from the time that i started this blog until now. maybe i should tell you a bit more about it?
i don't actually remeber what i've written to this point about what storge is actually about but here goes:
storge is based on the fact that i have four brothers biologically and hundreds of thousands of brothers by adoption (and you do too!). i realized awhile back that there are approximately 3 billion men out there that i'm NOT going to marry, but most of the time i focus on that one man that i will: how to treat him, when and how will i find him, what will he be like, ect. (which is good, because he's really, really important ;) but in doing this i forget that there are all of these other men around me who are my brothers and who i should be loving with the love of Jesus (read John 15:12 and 1 timothy 5:1-2)
i'd neglected my brothers for so long that i didn't know how to see them or relate to them on any level except the potential-romantic-partner level. this made me sad. so i started to pray about it and talk about it and read about it and listen for it to show up and live it (i'm in training still :). eventually God taught me some of what it means to be a sister, how to be a sister, how to see my brothers in a way that glorifies Him, and how to treat them in a way that is helpful instead of harmful and that builds them up instead of hinders them.
yep, that's kind of what the book is about. it's about learning to love your brothers as brothers...nothing more and nothing less than siblings in the family of God.
i don't actually remeber what i've written to this point about what storge is actually about but here goes:
storge is based on the fact that i have four brothers biologically and hundreds of thousands of brothers by adoption (and you do too!). i realized awhile back that there are approximately 3 billion men out there that i'm NOT going to marry, but most of the time i focus on that one man that i will: how to treat him, when and how will i find him, what will he be like, ect. (which is good, because he's really, really important ;) but in doing this i forget that there are all of these other men around me who are my brothers and who i should be loving with the love of Jesus (read John 15:12 and 1 timothy 5:1-2)
i'd neglected my brothers for so long that i didn't know how to see them or relate to them on any level except the potential-romantic-partner level. this made me sad. so i started to pray about it and talk about it and read about it and listen for it to show up and live it (i'm in training still :). eventually God taught me some of what it means to be a sister, how to be a sister, how to see my brothers in a way that glorifies Him, and how to treat them in a way that is helpful instead of harmful and that builds them up instead of hinders them.
yep, that's kind of what the book is about. it's about learning to love your brothers as brothers...nothing more and nothing less than siblings in the family of God.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
caffeinated dragonflies
i've decided that my mind is sort of like a dragonfly that's just taken two caffeine pills and wahed them down with a bottle of vault. it doesn't ever stop doing things (terribly annoying sometimes), but here's why i'm writing about it:
lots of the time when i relate to brothers (or people in general) i like to make contingency plans for what would happen if...(insert something good or bad or neutral or whatever) or i'll try to piece together lots of things and get inside their heads and figure out their motives and intentions and everything else that i can about the way that they're thinking and why they're thinking that way (mmm...yeah, i'm a woman, what can i say? lol) my brain runs in circles and hovers for 5 seconds, skitters away, comes back, buzzes away again, like that demented dragonfly we talked about earlier. and then, eventually, i'll figure everything out (or at least everything will fit in a nice, satisfying order).
haha! i understand men! yep.
oh wait no. inevitably as soon as i think that i grasp how to relate with my brothers perfectly one of them (at least one) will do something that catches me completely off gaurd and i'll realize that all of the workings of my frantically fluttering dragonfly brain are just a silly illusion. i can't understand men! i most certainly can't understand christian men because they have the Holy Spirit inside of them and He's totally beyond my comprehension. all i can do, i guess, is love the brothers around me like a good sister should; luckily, that's something that i'm incredibly happy doing.
lots of the time when i relate to brothers (or people in general) i like to make contingency plans for what would happen if...(insert something good or bad or neutral or whatever) or i'll try to piece together lots of things and get inside their heads and figure out their motives and intentions and everything else that i can about the way that they're thinking and why they're thinking that way (mmm...yeah, i'm a woman, what can i say? lol) my brain runs in circles and hovers for 5 seconds, skitters away, comes back, buzzes away again, like that demented dragonfly we talked about earlier. and then, eventually, i'll figure everything out (or at least everything will fit in a nice, satisfying order).
haha! i understand men! yep.
oh wait no. inevitably as soon as i think that i grasp how to relate with my brothers perfectly one of them (at least one) will do something that catches me completely off gaurd and i'll realize that all of the workings of my frantically fluttering dragonfly brain are just a silly illusion. i can't understand men! i most certainly can't understand christian men because they have the Holy Spirit inside of them and He's totally beyond my comprehension. all i can do, i guess, is love the brothers around me like a good sister should; luckily, that's something that i'm incredibly happy doing.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
hummingbirds...the sequel
i really did spend too much time this summer watching hummingbirds. one thing in particular that really bothered me was the mean bird. this hummingbird even looked mean. it had a black head, beak, wings, back, and tail, a white stomach, and a bright red throat so that it looked like it was wearing a black cloak with a red brooch. this hummingbird was constantly hovering around the feeder and chasing away all of the other birds.
i spent so much time devising ways that i could capture this mean bird. finally, i settled on a satisfactory trap idea...but it's too complicated to explain and i never actually put it into action.
why did i dislike that hummingbird so much? well, that bird reminds me of me at my worst. i dislike me at my worst.
our feathered friend was trying very hard to control his surroundings and he got terribly upset when he wasn't in control. also, he forgot to care about his fellow birds and ended up being very selfish in his relationships with them.
yep. i can be like that. much more often than i'd care to admit.
in relation to anyone this attitude is harmful, that includes in relation to my brothers. i don't want to be a mean hummingbird in a shadowy cloak. i should ask Jesus to help me have the attitude of a good sister rather than the attitude of a rude bird.
i spent so much time devising ways that i could capture this mean bird. finally, i settled on a satisfactory trap idea...but it's too complicated to explain and i never actually put it into action.
why did i dislike that hummingbird so much? well, that bird reminds me of me at my worst. i dislike me at my worst.
our feathered friend was trying very hard to control his surroundings and he got terribly upset when he wasn't in control. also, he forgot to care about his fellow birds and ended up being very selfish in his relationships with them.
yep. i can be like that. much more often than i'd care to admit.
in relation to anyone this attitude is harmful, that includes in relation to my brothers. i don't want to be a mean hummingbird in a shadowy cloak. i should ask Jesus to help me have the attitude of a good sister rather than the attitude of a rude bird.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
fluffy grass and soft pine trees
"Brave men are vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle. But these modern cowards are all crustaceans; their hardness is all on the cover and their softness is inside. (G.K. Chesterton's The Prehistoric Railway Station)
i live in a very interesting place. the campus of ashland university is probably one of the softest, least threatening places on the planet. i could almost go so far as to call it fluffy. we even have fluffy grass, as i discovered today. so, mixed with my discovery of soft pine needles last year, i could be tempted to think that all plants on campus are safe and harmless. i probably would think this if there weren't also spiky pine trees and sharp grass on campus.
however, though you might think this by now, this blog is not about plants...it's about our brother in Christ. God has gifted me with particularly wonderful brothers who work very hard to be helpful and not sharp or spiky, which is wonderful! but what should i do when i come across sharp and/or spiky brothers?
well, i should love them like they're my brothers (because they are) and like they're beautifully complicated masterpieces of the Lord Most High (again, because they are). maybe it would also be good for me to pray...lots (because talking to God is a good thing :) and to try really hard and pray really hard to see them in the way God does. it would be helpful too to look for ways to be a good and helpful sister and to "heap coals of fire on his head" by being extra kind and considerate. finally, i can be thankful (i guess...) because if all brothers were good and wonderful then i might think that all men are too and that is certainly not true (i really wish it was :-(.
i think that mean people are normally mean because they're hurting, or afraid, or lost, or insecure. so mayhaps i should work really hard to see past the reaction of a brittle and maybe even poisonous exterior and see the person God created underneath...though i hope very much that all of our brothers in Christ will be kind, helpful, strong, and good men of God.
i live in a very interesting place. the campus of ashland university is probably one of the softest, least threatening places on the planet. i could almost go so far as to call it fluffy. we even have fluffy grass, as i discovered today. so, mixed with my discovery of soft pine needles last year, i could be tempted to think that all plants on campus are safe and harmless. i probably would think this if there weren't also spiky pine trees and sharp grass on campus.
however, though you might think this by now, this blog is not about plants...it's about our brother in Christ. God has gifted me with particularly wonderful brothers who work very hard to be helpful and not sharp or spiky, which is wonderful! but what should i do when i come across sharp and/or spiky brothers?
well, i should love them like they're my brothers (because they are) and like they're beautifully complicated masterpieces of the Lord Most High (again, because they are). maybe it would also be good for me to pray...lots (because talking to God is a good thing :) and to try really hard and pray really hard to see them in the way God does. it would be helpful too to look for ways to be a good and helpful sister and to "heap coals of fire on his head" by being extra kind and considerate. finally, i can be thankful (i guess...) because if all brothers were good and wonderful then i might think that all men are too and that is certainly not true (i really wish it was :-(.
i think that mean people are normally mean because they're hurting, or afraid, or lost, or insecure. so mayhaps i should work really hard to see past the reaction of a brittle and maybe even poisonous exterior and see the person God created underneath...though i hope very much that all of our brothers in Christ will be kind, helpful, strong, and good men of God.
Friday, August 28, 2009
the majestic ficus tree
so...i was sitting in my university student center today and i noticed a tree. it was a living tree in a pot in the middle of this building where the only other living things were people (and bugs and maybe mice but we won't mention those because some of you are probably squeamish :) i started thinking about this tree, because it happens to be a picture of the way that human beings cry out for God's presence in everything. even in big cities there are small gardens and pets and things that remind us of God's goodness shown in creation.
how does this relate to your brothers? well i'll tell you. your brothers are human beings and they cry out for God's presence. i want you to show them God's presence in everything that you do. as a woman and a daughter of the Most High, you can display His character and creativity and joy and beauty in a way that no one and nothing else on this planet and in this universe can. i think that your brothers deserve to see that and i hope that you will show it to them. :-)
this is altogether necessary because the world around us is full of nontruth. nontruths about God and nontruths about us and nontruths about reality and nontruths about truth. so...display the truth! display the character of the Lord of the universe! it'll be fun ;-)
how does this relate to your brothers? well i'll tell you. your brothers are human beings and they cry out for God's presence. i want you to show them God's presence in everything that you do. as a woman and a daughter of the Most High, you can display His character and creativity and joy and beauty in a way that no one and nothing else on this planet and in this universe can. i think that your brothers deserve to see that and i hope that you will show it to them. :-)
this is altogether necessary because the world around us is full of nontruth. nontruths about God and nontruths about us and nontruths about reality and nontruths about truth. so...display the truth! display the character of the Lord of the universe! it'll be fun ;-)
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