1) Up VERY early, 5:00 AM - just couldn't sleep - and immediately taken by two of this morning's devotional readings. Not necessarily as they apply to me (but Lord knows I have work to do . . . and I know it, too . . . ), but - well, here they are:
1a) Acts 8:20-23: But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money [emphasis mine]. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
1b) From C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters: “Whichever he adopts, your main task will be the same. Let him begin by treating the Patriotism or the Pacifism as a part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit [emphasis mine], come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the ‘Cause,’ in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the British war effort or of pacifism.”
2) The road race is this morning, and it feels odd not to be rushing about getting ready for the open house: no baking of mini-muffins, no large-scale perking of coffee, no backhoe shoveling books and papers from one room to the other. I feel bad having had to cancel, but after two weeks out of the office with the flu, it just didn't make sense a) to knock myself out on a party, and b) to serve as Typhoid Barry. I"ll enjoy the Passing Show as I always do, and if anyone shows up anyway I'll greet them happily, but it won't be quite the same.
2a) Please God, this period of illness is coming to an end! Feeling so much better, but not wanting to jinx it either.
3) Books. I love books. And as much as I love them, I fear the time has come again to cull a few.