The Warren & the World Vol 3, Issue 31

The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!

Around the Web

Middle School Mom

Parents know that very kid is unique, and discipline needs to be unique to to be effective. Enter Misty Rude’s story at her blog about the day she attended school with her sixth grade son. The tale is sometimes hilarious, but the truth and encouragement Misty shares may resonate with those who feel like they’ll never get this parenting thing right.

Every parent has them. Those exquisite moments when you realize all your efforts to parent your child well regarding a particular issue have failed. Tanked. Bombed. Fallen flat on their miserable cans. You’ve loved, coached, reproved, prayed, admonished, corrected, mentored, warned, grounded, advised, scolded, and threatened . . . to no avail. Your little (or not-so-little) knucklehead continues down the same potentially self-destructive path, and you’re left wondering what in the world to do next, how to get his or her attention.That’s where Paul & I were with our 6th grader toward the end of last school year.

Q Combinations 1: Rembrandt & Herbert

Mark Meynell shares at QUAERENTIA a combination of two of the great artists of history: the poet George Herbert and the artist Rembrandt van Rijn.

George Herbert was only 13 years older than Rembrandt – but the latter long outlived his English contemporary. I’ve no idea whether or not they knew of each other. I rather think they might have had much in common if they had – both experienced great worldly success and then obscurity. But more significantly, both had a profound understanding of the gospel of grace. It’s patently obvious – through the glittering artistry of Herbert’s poetry, and the poetic humanity of Rembrandt’s painting.

On Aching and Longing

Kris shares at Grace Table a story of longing fulfilled, and how sometimes a small gift can be something great.

Every little item blessed me, for the variety and beauty of it. In one small boxed, she managed to collect a spectacular menagerie of God’s masterful creation. Clearly she had put much care and thought into collecting these items for me. I have no idea how long it took her to find these treasures. I don’t know what this gift cost her. It’s not something I can actually repay.

Fractured Christians

Tim Challies meditates on the value of the final chapter.

Have you ever considered how books of the Bible would be changed if God had left out their final chapter?Matthew without chapter 28 would leave us as Christians without a Great Commission. Ruth without chapter 4 would never allow us to marvel that this Moabite woman was the great-grand-mother of the great King David and the great-(many times over)-grandmother of our Savior, the greater King David.
And what if Jonah was a book with three chapters instead of four?

Around the Warren

A Cathedral of Words

James Witmer’s introduction to S.D. Smith’s poem tips us off that we’re in for a treat:

One of the lovely things about working with SD Smith is his deep and sincere humility. But sometimes, that humility forces me to pry something beautiful from his bashful clutches in order to share it with you all. Like this poem. You’re welcome.

I Forgive You is Weighty, Wacky Fun

Loren Eaton introduces us to a book that just might introduce your family to some new aphorisms.

Over time, families develop their own private mythology, so to speak. Down the weeks and months and years, distinctive metaphors and figures of speech start to accrete around the ordinary stuff of life. For instance, when dealing with the emotional ups and downs that came with caring for a chronically ill family member, we would exhort one other to “stop riding the roller coaster.” Similarly, when I was a child, my mother would urge me to avoid grudges by saying, “Don’t hug the cactus.” Such admonitions might sound a little silly when taken out of context, but they can offer surprisingly wise insight. That’s a truth Nicole Lataif seems to have grasped with I Forgive You: Love We Can Hear, Ask For, and Give, a child’s primer on a basic Christian concept that’s both weighty and wacky.