I firmly believe the struggle to see truth, goodness, and beauty is necessary in our time. The Simple List is my way of pointing you to something redeeming on the webs, something thought provoking or eye-catching or soul-refreshing. I hope these links are reminders of the simplest things that make a good life: truth, goodness, beauty.
We need these more than ever.
|| Truth ||
A Letter to my Children in the Wake of Tragedy by Rebecca Reynolds
"Fifthly, do keep working. Finish cleaning the garage. Make the dinner. Fold the clothes. Wash the baby. Change the sheets on the bed. Stay in those sweet human rhythms, because these are liturgies of a sort. They express faith that God has chosen you to live in this particular time, with the particular people surrounding you, with particular tasks before you."
|| Goodness ||
Nurturing a Holy Curiosity by Ann Kroeker
This is a long but wonderful article by Ann on asking questions, keeping curious, and bringing it all under the authority of Christ.
Read it! Tell me what you think.
"Curiosity is engaged and driven by questions. Adults who have tamped down and lost touch with their curiosity over time may need help forming questions to engage their minds again. People can help each other regain and nurture a holy curiosity, as all ages, young and old, begin asking good questions of each other."
|| Beauty ||
Beauty Will Save the Seventh Grade by Callie Feyen
“The beauty you write about isn’t going to fix anything,” I warn them. “Don’t make this into a ‘Happily Ever After’ situation.”
This is a great piece about helping kids (and all of us) frame a difficult experience with beauty - not to fix it or make it more palatable; simply to see it.
"I wonder if this is the beauty my new administrator is hoping my students will experience; the kind that makes us refigure things, the kind that is distressed, the kind that we choose to inhabit in our gasps as we fall to the ground, forever changed."
And this:
Lux Aurumque - "Light of Gold". One of the many tributes to the families affected by last week's tragedy. This is framing our terrible existence right now, and I pray my community will cling to beauty, "pick three violets from among the rubble", as Reynolds says, and be filled with the hope of Christ.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153686054644549
Please keep sharing truth, goodness, and beauty with me. If you have thoughts on any of these articles or videos, I'd love to hear them in the comments below or on the Facebook page. And if you've found something worth sharing this week, I'd love to see that, too.