Trembling

For a time, my son's hands would tremble when he sat in his high chair and began to eat this breakfast. It wasn't a long time, neither in the moment (maybe ten minutes at a time) nor in his development (about a month). This was mildly concerning to my wife and me, but it was short lived enough not to cause real anxiety. What stays with me is the sight of a little boy, fifteen months, shaking slightly in innocence and vulnerability. For me, it's an image of the Christian. We are, of course, God's children. And in moments of truth we see we are helpless; we shutter, then, in weakness and for glory.

Praying Poetry: Wendell Berry's "Given" Poems

Two images stay with me having recently read Wendell Berry’s Given book of poems. An older man, after a snow, comes to his wife’s grave and wishes he could lift the snow like a blanket and join his wife as if climbing into bed. “But he is not her husband now./ To participate in resurrection, one/ first must be dead. And he goes/ back into the whitened world, alive.” This, from "The Rejected Husband".

The other image is of trees standing patiently in just the place where they were put by God. Then, this poem, "IX" in the Sabbaths 2000 series, turns the image upon man: "I stand and wait for prayer/ To come and find me here."

Robert Frost comes to mind, reading these poems from Berry. That may not be such a profound thought given that I just discovered a blurb from his publisher that says the same (along with a comparison to William Carlos Williams). Frost and Berry both write about nature and eternity -- but don't all poets! (I leave it for someone else to sort out how the Christological orientation of Berry's poems separate them from Frost's.)

Lastly, given the character of this blog, I can't ignore Berry's "How to be a Poet". "Stay away from screens," he says -- uh oh, reader! Craft, place and silence are the poem's themes, in that order. Poems are, it concludes (itself included, I suppose), "like prayers prayed back to the one who prays."

Spanking

My wife and I recently went to a parenting seminar, at which spanking was condoned but not emphasized. Neither of us have a philosophical objection against it, but neither do we have an inclination towards it. So, I asked a friend attending the seminar, who has children older than ours, whether he spanks them. He said he once spanked his son. The boy started crying and said, “Daddy, why are you hitting me?” My friend started crying too and replied, “I don’t know.” He stopped spanking his son and hugged him. That was the end of spanking for him.

I have s sense that’s how it would go for me too. I know the Bible says it’s not good for children to spare them the rod; however, I think Christians have to ask the question, Who would Jesus spank? He’s quite gentle with children and doesn’t even smack the Pharisees who obviously infuriate him. Going strictly by Jesus’ example, it seems the worst physical punishment you can mete out on your child – if he’s really doing something notorious – is to overturn his coloring table.