liszt.

work hard.
sleep well - not too long, not too short.
eat balanced meals.
read a book a week.
read as few recent novels as you can.
dress simply.
keep your home clean.
take long baths. use the time to read if you'd like.
spend your recreation time well. don't waste it on stressful entertainment.
don't watch blockbuster movies unless the story isn't recycled.
exercise self-control.
have thick pajamas, and thin pajamas.
drink caffeine-free tea if you want to relax at night.
work in your yard when the sun's out.
learn history, theology and philosophy, so your worldview isn't a product of the times.
increase your vocabulary. with new words come new ideas.
listen to jazz. don't like it? start with dave brubeck.
listen to classical.
drink water more than anything else.
don't download music illegally unless it's a try-before-you-buy or you already own the vinyl.
look at maps.
go on walks or ride your bike.
pray for your friends.
brush your teeth.
use deodorant.
don't facebook or tweet too much. take a break.
live off of less than you earn.
give.
learn an instrument.
make mix cds for friends.
read poetry. not the fluffy stuff.
think. think. think.
be aware of your behavior.
hang out with somebody new.
go to towns you haven't been to before and explore them.
walk to the tops of mountains. big ones.
go to the ballet. and musicals.
don't play games too much. but also, play games with people.
have deep conversations.
have light conversations.
repent.
wash your sheets.
don't blog too much.
don't text too much.
seek wisdom.
cook.
rearrange your room every so often.
if you're single, enjoy it for all it's worth.
if you're taken, make sure it's something good.

what you wear, what you eat, what you listen to, what you know, how you decorate your home, how you vacation, what you do or don't do doesn't make you any more special than anyone else. don't try to give yourself value by these silly, trivial things. Seek YHWH. Know YHWH. Walk with YHWH.

Learn the teachings of Jesus and follow them.

Scars

When I was a kid I wondered at scars. I imagined that they all had significant stories. My dad has great scars on his legs that he got when he was a young boy. He had polio, and they did surgery, switching muscles out. His scars have good stories.

Then I got my first scar. I was opening a can of beans, didn't take the top off entirely and I nicked my knuckle. Out came a chunk; a scar developed. No good story.

Then, a few months ago, I was taking cookies out of the oven and burned my arm less then a centimeter above where the glove ended. Now I bear the scar, pink, and sometimes white. And it's just gonna hang out there for decades with no story.

Our hearts get scarred. Often the scars have great stories. We can say we're wounded from great tragedy.

Sometimes nothing very significant caused them, but we'll let the scars stay for decades.

Brilliance

I'm reading my third Jacques Doukhan book, Secrets of Revelation: The Apocalypse Through Hebrew Eyes. I recently read Ecclesiastes: All is Vanity, and last year, Secrets of Daniel: A Jewish Prince in Exile.

His writing and insight is so excellent, I may buy his 1978 dissertation The Genesis Creation Story. But we'll see. Dissertations can be hairy reading.

I'm blown away by the richness of Revelation, Ecclesiastes, and Daniel.

Don't have much more to say than that. Just studying, learning, thinking.

Confessing. Repenting.

Blog Name

I have been asked to make an accounting of my changing blog names.

I liked this series of words in my current blog title. After finding them, I arranged them in the most pleasing order. Just say it out loud; it sounds great, doesn't it?

Prior to this, my blog was titled "Even in The Quietest Moments", which it had been called in the past. It's a Supertramp album title, and I just love the name.

Prior to that, it was called "MNMNTKLPRSN", which is the anglicized equivalent of the Hebrew words "mene mene tekel parsin", which is what is the "writing on the wall" in the story from where we get the idion. In the book of Daniel, Daniel uses the brilliance of Hebrew etymology to unpack a whole paragraph of meaning: "You have been weighed and measured and have been found wanting. Your kingdom will be divided between the Medes and Persians....." Something like that. From three words. Genius.

Don't recall the other names of the blog.

The Grammys

Best New Artist of the Year:
1970: Crosby, Stills, & Nash
2010: Zac Brown Band (?)


Album of the Year:
1970: Blood, Sweat & Tears
2010: Taylor Swift


Best Folk Artist:
1970: Joni Mitchell
2010: Steve Earle (?)