We've had a busy few weeks and May always flies by in a blur. Nevertheless, I've saved some links to share with you. (Warning: some of these are fairly heavy and / or deep. Read after you've had your coffee!)
Learning
- Read Alouds Solve a Lot! by Nadene at Practical Pages. Long live reading aloud!
- Deserving Mr. Darcy: An Austenesque Apologia for Classical Education by Lindsey Brigham at CiRCE. "Not that love can ever be truly deserved; another of Austen’s themes is the sense of love as gift, as grace. But even as the way of grace must be prepared by repentance—a paradoxical kind of “worthiness” to receive it—so the way of love must be prepared by the development of a character able to recognize, receive, and return it, and in that sense, worthy of it."
Living
- Six Lessons in Good Listening by David Mathis at Desiring God. I'll add one: always jumping in to tell your own similar, or slightly worse - or better - experience doesn't connect you to the other person in the conversation, it divides. Every conversation should not be about you.
- When You're In Between Being a Special Needs Mom and a Typical Mom by Ali Cummins at The Mighty. Sometimes the desire to label things (which can be helpful) divides instead of includes.
- Self-Care Doesn't Mean Self-Centered by Alicia Cohn at Relevant. I like this attempt to explain the balance.
- Home is the Front Lines of Christian Living by Chap Bettis at TGC.
- The Too-Small Story of Home by Jen Pollock Michel at TGC. Perspective.
- How Being Authentic is Holding You Back by Susan Narjala at Relevant. Love this.
- Some posts about friendship: Hope for Unhealthy Friendships by Christine Hoover at Desiring God; Step Into the Messiness of Vulnerable Friendships also by Christine Hoover but this time for True Woman; Is That Relationship Really Toxic? by Mike Leake; and Creating a Culture of Hospitality by Bryan Elliff.
- How to Love and Help Refugees by Liza Hartman for True Woman. The refugee crisis of our time can be overwhelming. I appreciate the effort to explain why and how to help.
Loving
- I do not love that this happened, but I appreciate the reminder of why this is a tragedy: The Real Tragedy in the Shooting of Jordan Edwards by Jemar Tisby at CNN. "...too often people bring up a person's history to make him into a hero or a hoodlum. They want to create a monster who doesn't merit mercy or a moral exemplar whose life is more valuable than the average person's. Neither villainizing nor valorizing does justice to the fundamental dignity everyone deserves."
- Timely lesson: The Top 5 Forms of Socialism Denial by Robert Tracinski at The Federalist.
- Two posts about The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher (which I still haven't had a chance to read): 3 Problems with the Benedict Option by Jesse Johnson at The Cripplegate and Is it Really That Bad? Christianity, Secularism, and the Apocalypse by Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy. Whatever the merits of the book itself, it has certainly inspired some great discussion.
- I am grieved that we have to ask this question: Why Aren't More Christians Outraged by Sexual Harassment Scandals? by Samantha Fields at Relevant.
- I had no idea about the tragedies in Argentina's recent history until I read this heartbreaking longform article: The Living Disappeared by Bridget Huber.
- The Forgotten American Missionaries of Pyongyang by Robert Kim at Atlas Obscura. The Second World War's effects reverberate to this day.
- After so many heavy, deep links, let's turn to something completely different: People are Adding "And Then the Murders Began" to Famous Book Openings at Bored Panda. I lol'd at The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
From Living Unabridged
Two years ago: Relaxed and Classical - A Lifestyle of Learning
One year ago: Better Together - Real Friendships, Real Community
This week: Tips for Reading Aloud (and Doing the Voices)
What caught your eye this week?
