Archive for September, 2008

The starting point

Tonight, as I prepare for my first day of classes at Fuller, I reflect on where I am at, what I hope, and where I have come from.
My journey thus far has been incredibly rich. Academically, I have been lead slowly but surely toward this place; although my undergraduate work for the most part had [...]

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Fists shut, or palms open?

Once again I find myself struggling with the tension of the present and the future.
In attending my first few days of orientation at Fuller Seminary, I have to admit that I have been more than surprised and pleased at the racial, cultural, and continental diversity of my fellow student peers. Their openess and willingness to [...]

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The Calm Before the Storm

Today has been my last day of relative calm before I begin my journey at Fuller Seminary. I spent the day cleaning the house; I vacuumed and I dusted and I did the laundry and cleaned the floors. I know that part of me was doing it to calm my nerves, and the other part [...]

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Complexity of Simplicity, part 4

This is the final reflection in my series on this topic.
Unstuffing the Mind
The last part of our unstuffing process may be one of the most difficult for many reading this, because it involves actions and results that are far less concrete, with results that are usually not as immediate (as opposed to clearing your house [...]

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Complexity of Simplicity, Part 3

This is a continuation of my previous two posts.
“Unstuffing” the Schedule
One of the things I have increasingly noticed when visiting friends with children is the vast breadth and density of children’s schedules these days. Children as young as four years old rarely spend any time at home; how could they, when in the course of one [...]

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Complexity of Simplicity, Part 2

Yesterday I began a multi-part blog about the simplification of our lives in order to fight the consumer-driven, self-focused mindset of our modern society. I talked about how we are overstuffed with unnecessaries: stuffed with stuff, literally, in our homes, our schedules, and our minds. Yesterday I focused primarily on simplifying one’s home life, with the [...]

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The Complexity of Simplicity

My husband and I are currently part of a social justice prayer/study group at a local parish called Just Faith. Through the readings, reflections, and conversations that have been prompted by our participation in this group, I’ve been led to reflect on how complicated our society (and myself in particular) seem to make our daily [...]

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Why it’s important

As time becomes more and more squeezed as I approach the beginning of my experience in seminary, I am filling my days with teaching myself French (will need it as one of my modern language requirements once I start applying to PhD programs), learning to sew (skirts are about all I can do right now, [...]

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