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Posts from the ‘Daily Dose’ Category

Dec 31

Daily Dose 65: Home Library

Over a hundred years ago a Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard, made the statement that anyone could give himself or herself a quality education by reading fifteen minutes a day from classic writings that could all fit on a bookshelf five feet long.

Any book lover knows five feet does not hold a lot of books, but sad to say, it is a great deal more space than many homes give to books. An enterprising publisher put Dr. Eliot to the task of actually compiling a series of volumes that would meet his criteria, and the result became known as the Harvard Classics, 51 volumes covering ancient history, scientific principles, classic literature, religious readings, poetry, historical documents, and essays. Other such series, including the Great Books (my mother-in-law led a discussion group for the Junior Great Books for many years) followed in its substantial wake. Read more

Dec 30

Daily Dose 64: Behavior Sequence

Untold millions of times each day it happens. Indeed, over the course of your own family life, it may occur millions of times. Unlike breathing or heart beating, it will never be an autonomic response. Each sequence requires distinct, conscious attention. The accrued benefits are Everest-sized; the effort required before the benefits kick in, virtually insurmountable–and buried. Hidden under the debris of daily living, its value is constantly assaulted by schedules, expectations, activities, culture, and peer-pressure. It requires, literally, a twenty-four seven on-call focused expert to attend consistently to even a majority of the sequences. It is the obedience behavior sequence and it goes like this: Read more

Dec 29

Daily Dose 63: Year End Review

The most wonderful time of the year includes the most wonderful night to stay home. New Year’s Eve. For our early married years, we were left alone on New Year’s Eve. Our church never had a service, so we weren’t torn about missing it. We could sit around and review passages we had memorized through the year and spend a long time praying for our families, our friends, plans we had. We could talk about what we wanted to do in the coming year around the house. We could decide what we needed to save money for. We could look over the calendar and see what was coming: when we could schedule our anniversary trip, when Christmas fell the following year, when David might be gone. Read more

Dec 21

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Daily Dose 62: Marathon

Who practices more, the runner for the 100 meter dash, or the runner for the marathon? Real runners for either of those races would both practice a great deal. The difference is not how much they practice, but how they practice, because the needs of the races are very different.

The sprinter goes as fast as he or she can, every  muscle primed for that burst of speed. Allowing any one to pass imperils their chance of winning. Marathon runners must pace themselves, preserving energy for key times in the race. Another runner leading even helps set a good pace, until it’s time to pull ahead.

So, life is more like which—a sprint or a marathon? We’d all agree there are sprinting moments, but life itself is much more like a marathon. Read more

Dec 20

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Daily Dose 61: 5 O’Clock Quitting Time

Mom was a simple, straight forward stay-at-home mom, at the time when every mother stayed home. Our one car went to work with our dad. The milk man, the bread man, and the insurance man all routinely came to our home, the side door. The first two left FOOD, which greatly interested us as children; the third came to collect money, which held no interest for us whatsoever.

Our first teenage babysitter came one night when I was probably in fourth or fifth grade. Other than that, Grandma Wilson appeared for a week or so whenever a new baby was born, or mom was home with us. My dad even did the grocery shopping every other Friday night (on payday, it turns out) after coming home for dinner and picking up one of the children for their turn on the shopping adventure.  Read more

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