Welcome to my newest readers, listeners, fellow bibliophiles, and educators!
A friend asked me when I knew I felt joy. In the moment, we were gathering wildflowers for my son’s wedding.
Laughing, I replied, “Right now.” It was everything around me all at once. The deep delight in the sunrise, the southern Oklahoma breeze, the bright petals, the hearts and hands of people helping me while knowing my son was soon joining his amazing bride in covenant.
In the midst of so many hours of work and preparation, I found myself laughing a lot. Maybe it was the coming together. Maybe it was the permanent hope of covenant, a sign of the joy of eternal hope. Deep within, wasn’t it the knowing that God’s hand was in every moment?
And He is. In joy and pain. As our families and friends prepared for a wedding, my husband was suffering. Kidney stones had reoccurred, but by God’s grace (and pain medications!), he did not miss a moment.
When I asked him how the pain affected his perspective, he responded that it only made him more determined to enjoy every minute, to take delight. And I think that is the key—take it, seize it, and hold on.
On my desk
For the first summer in a very long time I’m not attending or speaking at a single national classical conference, but if you’re new to my letter, I am honing the idea that our life in Christ is like the tenacity of the sycomore fig tree and how its fruit comes to maturity (see A Birth Announcement). I’m in the long waiting game of submitting book proposals to publishing houses that don’t require agent representation. I had a nibble in December, but the offer to publish wasn’t quite right.
Speaking of patience, it takes time to get rejected! Since March I’ve now submitted a long-form article to three magazines: Christianity Today, Comment, and Plough. The article centers on how we evaluate our Christian work with performance reviews. All rejections, but the full article is now sitting in an editor’s hands at another site. Waiting to hear if it’s a fit while I research Thomas Jefferson and his views of education for another article.
On my nightstand
Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April (1922). How dreadfully one wanted to be precious. Indeed. After World War I, four women take a holiday like no other, each escaping a drab life and looking for who they really are. Von Arnim’s lush descriptions set the stage for a perfect April (or summer!) read. I am loving it!
Liping Ma’s Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics (1999). I cannot believe I had not heard of this book until two weeks ago. A world of thanks to James Dietz for mentioning it at
I’ve only read one chapter, but I am fascinated by Ma’s explanation of conceptual math as it is and isn’t taught in China and in America. When you subtract numbers, do you actual ‘borrow’ or do you ‘decompose’ the tens and ones? I didn’t know it, but this is the book I’ve been looking for for my math teachers and frankly, for myself.
I have SO many books on my summer stack! I plan to feature a pile of books in July. Who knows? Maybe I will have my own book news by then!
Until then, share a title that you’re reading this summer. I would love to hear about what interests you!
Christine
P.S. If you want to win some books, enter my friend Jacob Allee’s Summer Give Away and Sale. Enter by June 30 for C.S. Lewis’s Collected Letters, by July 15 for a ten-book set of Gateway to the Great Books, and by July 31 for the massive set of Great Books of the Western World!
Perfect for beginners, this handy study guide for C.S. Lewis's novel is a blend of summary and scholarly commentary. The second edition includes references to leading commentary from Lewis scholars as well as key parallels from Lewis’s other works like The Four Loves, Surprised by Joy, and An Experiment in Criticism. Each chapter includes discussion questions designed for students, teachers, book clubs, and church groups.