This Blessed House

Unlike Raymond Carver's story, I enjoyed this story very much.
It starts off painting this scene of a newly married couple unpacking their belongings into a house that will one day hold more memories then things. Twinkle, the wife, becomes enamored with this bottle of vinegar she finds in the kitchen. Her husband is clearly not as excited about it but through this it draws out the type of people that they both are. I see Twinkle, as this indian, free spirited woman. Her husband Sanjeev a bit more contained.

The magic of this story begins when Twinkle begins finding these "presents" left throughout the house. When I was reading this I imagined a little girl holding a treasure map and upon each finding her face is glowing with excitement. I honest viewed Sanjeev as this reserved man wanting nothing to do with Christianity, as the story continues my view begins to change. I begin to see him as the guy who holds to not only tradition but sticks to what is familiar. Part of me wondered if he stuck to being a muslim because it was what he knew for so long.Twinkle begins to embrace the different things she finds in the house and to her, this faith of the previous owners begins to make her a bit more than just curious.
My favorite part of this story is when she is bathing and her husband walks in to throw away the overly sized Mary statue and I watch as Twinkle fills with rage. She storms down the stairs and you see and hear the most beautiful, intense, display of passion. Her husband for the first time can see her eyes filled so full of love and desire for something that he is swayed to surrender this battle. It was not just a dispute over artwork but a display of love.

The scene changes to a party where these statues of various saints are displayed. I can feel Sanjeev's uncomfortable, tense, pauses. He does not want these statues but he also wants to make his wife happy. I find it so interesting that these statues have him looking back into his motives of marrying Twinkle and what it was that caused him to "fall in love" with her. The flashbacks lead him to this moment; she is a rarity, a gem, and he is lucky to be with her. However, the way that the story ends has me wondering if he has just agreed with her keeping the statues in order to avoid argument.

When this story ended I tried to paint a "more complete" ending in my head. I can envision it now, the guests have left and bits of trash are scattered throughout the living room. It does not look like a brothel but it clearly is not neat and tidy according to Sanjeev's standards. I can see them looking are each other, smiling and falling back into the couch. They close their eyes and take a deep breath and replay the flashbacks of how they arrived to this point of their relationships. These flashbacks are not ones of regret but they are glimpses of the love they have for one another.

Reading for Transformation/Darkness, Questions, Poetry and Spiritual Hope

I remember the first time I ever participated in Lectio. I was a freshman in college and I was sitting in a dimly lit office with a group of girls studying the importance of praying the scriptures. I remember how slow we went over the passage. This article described what Lectio is and the significance in each part.
Lectio: begin with silence.  
Meditatio: reading each line of the poem and reflecting on words, phrases, metaphors etc.
Oratio: addressing God in personal prayers.
Contemplatio: sitting quietly in silence.
These steps drastically changed the way I approached scripture. What I mean is I was always able to get something out of scripture but this made me pause and deeply reflect on what I was reading. I was able to really absorb the words that were written many years ago that still hold so much truth today.
"When we pray with poetry, whether the biblical poetry of the Psalms or non- biblical poetry open to Christian appropriation, we open ourselves to the possibility of spiritual experience." This quote stood out to me as I was reading the text. I love knowing that I can apply a spiritual discipline to all types of literary texts. Lectio in some ways, opens the meaning of words that are often overlooked in our day to day reading.

The next article I found interesting. A section discussed dispair and I had just recently finished A Sickness unto Death by Soren Kierkegaard. What was interesting was the different viewpoints I received. Soren feels that despair is a sin, Corrigan views it as something we all have to identify with at some point in our lives. To truly know hope we must have experienced the contrast to that. I really appreciated how personal this article was. By reading the tragedies that occurred in the professors life I was able to identify with my own feelings of grief and despair at different points in my life.

Both articles said different things but the theme was the same. How can you get the most out of a literary text? Whether this text is Christian literature or not there are meanings in words that need to be discovered

Raymond Carver

The story begins with this scene: friends sitting in a kitchen drinking gin. I began to think it would start with them discussing their afternoons but immediately I am taken to this scene of violence. Terri tells this story of a horrible tragic night that almost took her life. Her perception drove her to believe that this behavior was love in a weird, twisted, and polluted kind of way. She in my opinion had a warped view of things. I am not even sure if she thought the behavior when he was drunk was love, as much as she believed that his sober moments were ones filled with love due to him being in a conscious and more aware state. However, if he truly loved Terri, he would not become so inebriated that he was acting contradictory to love.  I am sure at one point when he was sober it may of felt like love but when someone acts like this love becomes nothing other than a word. Yet, through all of the pain that was caused to Terri she had a desire to be next to him when he gasped his last breath. It makes me think was this love or madness? Or is it possible that love gone wrong can turn into death?
I can view this scene so clearly in my head. Two couples sitting in the kitchen looking at one another discussing love while consuming alcohol that is probably causing them to release more information than normally. Its this contrast of scene in which a couple has been married for years and the other just getting started in a sense. Due to this time frame their views on love are seemingly different. One couple is excited on spending the rest of life together, the other is contemplating if "true love" even exists.

This story really made me dislike Mel. I feel as though Terri jumped from a physically abuse relationship to a verbally abusive one all. I see many contradictions to this story. These couples are discussing love but all I see in Mel is selfishness. Perhaps this is their problem with the idea of love. If their emotions towards one another is skewed how can they possibly have a healthy functioning relationship. This couple that sits with them (Laura and Ed) I can tell as the conversation continues they would rather be anywhere but there. When I am reading this story I wish I could extract them and move them to a place where their exposure as a new married couple is not one that is so polluted, but that would not be reality.

What you Get Out of What you Read is Determined by How you Read

This statement holds the key to unlocking a lot of misconceptions that has surrounded literature. Upon arriving to college I did not spend my days reading Soren Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, James Smith or many other deep theological thinkers. When I began to read Radical Orthodoxy  I found myself in the deep end of a swimming pool without floaties. I was a bit overwhelmed. I knew these authors were pouring truth into my life but I wasn't able to quite catch everything that was being thrown at me. In class I was able to dive into discussion but when I would read I could not quite comprehend everything that was being said. My professors said the books would be challenging and that they would stretch our minds ( they were absolutely correct). I found myself turn from someone who always loved reading and naturally comprehended the material to someone whose head was spinning after just a few pages. I was not able to go through books with the same stamina I once had.

I thought, "there has to be a different way". I had to change my approach and I am still adjusting it to become a more effective and active reader. I find myself rereading things and looking at commentaries for some of the passages that I am still unable to fully grasp. I have to slow down my pace so that I am able to fully comprehend all that is being said. To be honest, this is a practice I have yet to fully master. However, growth only occurs through perseverance.

I continue on this journey of learning what it means to be an active participant in my reading not just a skeptic that does not fully engage with the literature in front of them. This chapter really encouraged me to grow and change the different ways I approach literature, whether it be an assignment for class or something I read just because.

Literary Profile

Thinking back to my childhood I remember not just one exposure to reading but several. My parents never read bedtime stories to us but my dad would play old hymns on the guitar while I sang words with more meaning then I was able to fully grasp just yet. Those memories are brought back every time I sing As a Deer Panteth, when I hear those words I can close my eyes and visualize my bedroom where my love for literature was born. I can remember picking up my first Dr. Seuss book and being blown away by the colorful and rather clever rhyming scheme. I fell in love with reading after this and began to pick up book after book to satisfy this growing hunger within. I then stumbled upon Rainbow fish and Where the Wild Things are. Picture after picture, line after line I was consumed.

Recently I have been reading A Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. It is quite a change from Oh the Places You'll Go, and the emotions that I receive from this book are a little different but the literature is just as alive. It is about the Holy Spirit and as I read these pages I feel His presence so strongly. It encourages me to continuously pray and go after the adventures the Lord places on my heart.

I remember picking up The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen I had no idea the impact that this book would leave on me. It was a summer assignment that changed the way I looked at prayer. It took a look at Brother Lawrence and the desert fathers in a way that I had never explored before. These men withdrew themselves from comfort, from what was familiar to be completely alone with the Lord. They devoted themselves to prayer and time with the Lord, even if that meant relinquishing their words and listening to His. This book discusses prayer, silence, and solitude. Every word was inspiring and convicting all at the same time. Books like this just reestablished my love for words.

When I first read the assigned reading I thought it would be another general piece of information that I couldn't get much out of. However, it was very descriptive and the passion for writing and literature was clearly shown. I was able to break down not only the grading process, but what was expected to be gained out of the class. I thought it was informative and thankfully it answered questions I had previous to reading it.