Thought for Today

God makes no deals—

Oh, how often I wish He did: when Joel was in Iraq—the spiritual well-being of my family—a hedge from sickness, evil, disaster—immunity from discomfort, frustration, indecision.

But, God…being God…makes no deals and has no obligation to do so.

“I would be so good if...”  “I would work so hard if…” and on and on.

To know my own limitations—to know that it’s okay for God to be God—to know Him better and know He’s good.

To trust Him more—

A Day at the Beach

The first ocean I ever saw was the Mediterranean—at dusk, beneath antiquity’s ruins—. While standing amidst the marble strewn sands, the sun stretched out where the heavens meet the water’s curve and splashed its radiance on Poseidon’s wavy peaks.

More than 30 summers later, I gaze out again from a Mediterranean shore. What a day—our day at the beach. Playing in the sand, holding Helen above the waves, paddle boating with Jay to the buoys’ edge. Watching Joel bury Breck in the sand and Kim absorbing the sun—

Now, months later and miles away, I realize that one of life’s greatest gifts is memory.

When I look out into a starry night

With air so cold it cracks my darkened rhymes,

My soul in anguish longs for sorted flight

To distant shores of sands in ancient times.

So, take me back to Arthur’s dancing kingdom,

Where laughter blends with sunlit skies at noon.

And knights consort with poets' fabled freedom,

And all of Nature’s breath reflects his tune—

 To heroes lost except in classic lore,

Where proud the banners waved with deeds for good—

And supernaturals help defeat the foe,

When man or woman’s heart cried out in woe.

I long to see where strength and honor stood

And welcome forth the past to modern shores.  
Deb Borkert ‘11

Pondering

Pondering. I wish there were a clear cut way of knowing God's will...kind of like email.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein, written Aug. 9, 2010                                                           

I don’t re-read every novel that my students read each year. If I did there’d be no time for grading their papers, and other reading, as it’s not uncommon to have 4 of my 5 classes in different works at any given time. But, each year I peruse through any that I’m feeling a little rusty on. So, since I didn’t teach AP last year, and it had been awhile, I’ve given Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein a cursory look the last few days before I delve into the summer reading analyses sitting in my gmail inbox.

I always get more out of a classic with subsequent readings, but I think I enjoyed traipsing through Europe with Shelley’s overly ambitious student and his beast because I’d just been to so many of the tranquil, yet haunting, places she describes.

As Shelley describes the beauty of Lake Lucerne and how the Swiss Alps border the lakes, I had a vivid image in my mind, not from her description alone, but from my personal thrill of such breathtaking beauty. When Frankenstein and his father rest in peaceful Strasbourg, I realize that Shelley herself would have walked the same avenues, gazed on the same rivers, and perhaps ate under the same 350-year-old sycamore tree. And the narrow crooked buildings lining the old town streets were the same as well. Did she wander through the cathedral and ponder Paradise Lost from which she parallels the monster’s relationship with Frankenstein to man’s with God or even Satan with God?

For the ice packs of the far north, I still must solely rely on Shelley’s eye, and probably always will. I kind of wish I’d thought about Mary Shelley and her companions on their stormy night next to the lake where they made the pact to write a story of horror and wonder. Maybe I would have if the winds had whipped up a squall and lightning had shaken the mountains.

But, for me the lakes exuded feelings of joy and innocence as I watched Breck and Helen dip their sticks into the water’s edge. Perhaps I should have, but Mary Shelley’s and her monster’s unhappy lives never entered my mind.

I Have Been Sequestered

Today Jay trotted off to school. I’m at home…with the laundry, bathrooms upstairs to clean, and an inbox of 15 AP essays on my gmail account. Feeling pretty good for a change, I’d kind of like to go out, but I can’t—just like I couldn’t go to school. I am contagious. And so not to be a silent bearer of bad bugs, I have been sequestered.

Looking Forward

15 godly girls this semester--4 of them international students. After reading all their essays yesterday, I think the mission field has come to me, from far and near. Hope God shows up. It's pretty fun on the days He does.

New Year's

What will a new year hold?

New adventures, new family members, new decisions--

I guess that's why it's New Year's

...a time to wrap away some of the past,

to peer into a new reflection pool,

to lift our hands in joy and dance to a new song.

What will this year hold? 

Somehow, I think it will be good.