Literary Friends

I’m enjoying Jane Eyre for my Victorian British Literature class. Taught by one of my favorite professors in one of my favorite literary styles, this class is my happy place right now. Early in the book, young Jane is befriended by a slightly older girl named Helen Burns. I thought I’d share some of narrator Jane’s descriptions of Helen and see if you think she would qualify as a Rare Rock. I mean, in the literary sense, of course!

Describing Helen’s unusual beauty when she discussed important things:

“– a beauty neither of fine colour nor long eyelash, nor pencilled brow, but of meaning, of movement, of radiance. Then her soul sat on her lips, and language flowed, from what source I cannot tell:”

Later, Jane describes Helen as the best kind of friend:

“she was qualified to give those who enjoyed the privilege of her converse, a taste of far higher things.”

I would certainly love to hear such comments made about me! (Oh, the beatiful language in this book will make you WANT to be a better person!) Jane learned much from her faithful friend Helen. Do you have favorite literary role models? Who would make your list of literary Rare Rocks?

A Rare Title: Do Hard Things

I started reading Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris (twin brothers of Joshua Harris from I Kissed Dating Goodbye) because I hoped to find some brilliant ideas for inspiring my students. Nothing makes me crazier than perfectly capable young people living beneath their God-given potential. Well, I found inspiration, but a lot of it applied to more than just my students. It applied to ME!

The message in Do Hard Things is based on Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to not “let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set the example for believers” in all matters of virtue and faith. The Harris brothers point out that the term teenager has only been in use for the last 50-70 years and, obviously, isn’t mentioned in the Bible at all. In other words, our cultural idea of being a teenager is a phenomenon that imposes ridiculously low expectations on otherwise capable young people. This book challenges teenagers to do hard things in five different categories:

1. Things that are outside your comfort zone.

2. Things that go beyond what is expected or required.

3. Things that are too big to accomplish alone.

4. Things that don’t earn an immediate payoff.

5. Things that change the cultural norm.

Even though I still FEEL like a teenager, I realize I’m not exactly the target demographic for this book. Still, I am challenged by this message of excellence. I would reccommend this book to the ‘tweens and teenagers in your life (and you could read it first).

Also, The Rebelution Blog put together a Modesty Survey that I found valuable. Christian girls anonymously asked questions about the way they dress and Christian guys answered. Sometimes it is helpful to see specifics when it comes to the modesty question. It is a topic I’ll probably take up later, but for now you might want to look at the work of some teenagers trying to do hard things!

A Rare Title: The Beautiful Fight

I’ve been tagged for another book game, and, as Andrea commented, I like these tags because you can learn so much about a person by seeing what they are reading and how it affects them. But, since the books I’m reading are mostly literature anthologies, I’m going to use it as an excuse to review a book I’ve been wanting to highlight here for awhile. (It is Spring Break for me and I don’t want to be reminded that British Literature exists right now!)

I can’t remember which one of Gary Thomas’ books I read first, but several of them have been there for me at just the right moment. Soon after a relational split between some of my closest friends and leaders, I read Sacred Pathways and learned that differences in spiritual temperaments don’t have to be dividing lines, they can be sources of strength and inspiration. As newly weds, Dan and I took a Sunday School class that used Sacred Marriage as the text. Understanding marriage as a spiritual discipline intended to make me holy, not just happy, revolutionized my expectations for our relationship. My first year teaching a spiritual formation course, I reached for The Glorious Pursuit right away. Its focus on our embodiment of the virtues (gentleness, patience, love, chastity, etc.) as a measurement of spiritual growth – instead of measuring by amount of time spent praying or reading the Bible – is so helpful to Bible students hungry for true relationship with God but wary of anything smelling remotely of legalism. So, when Thomas’ new title came out last year, I was anxious to read it.

The Beautiful Fight did not disappoint! I was challenged by Thomas’ charge that we see this Christian life as more than just a “list of prohibitions.” Thomas claims that in our pursuit of righteousness we have made Christianity into a dull and lifeless religion that is more about what we don’t do than about what we have the possibility of becoming. But this is not a greasy grace message, on the contrary, Thomas believes if we truly understood the freedom that comes with holiness we would pursue it even more.

For me, the best part of this book was that it answered some of my deepest questions concerning my kids. (I have a secret habit of analyzing the characteristics of Christian families whose children have survived adolescence and college with their faith intact or, better yet, with their faith even more their own.) Here is the inspiring excerpt from the book:

The gospel of transformation is a far more powerful and inviting journey than the religion of prohibition. If we teach primarily that Christianity is about learning how not to do something, we will raise seriously frustrated children, because James promises us, “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2). A merely prohibitive faith will seem at first frustrating and eventually impossible. But when we teach how Christ transforms us and uses us, including sharing insights on how to experience God, know him, and be used by him; when we rouse people to join the Beautiful Fight — then each battle scar will build assurance, confidence, and joy. Every moment becomes pregnant with possibility…

I love this. I’m trying to incorporate it into my everyday life. This relationship with Christ is life-giving and should be demonstrated as such. I want my children (and my students) to chase a life of holiness because they are chasing a holy God. And he is so much more than a list of Thou Shalt Not’s. This book is excellent reading for a Rare Rock!