A Book, a Movie, and an Update

Because I’ve been so consistently inconsistent with newsletter writing these past 8+ years, presumably no one will blink an eye that it’s been over 5 months since I have written in this space. This one will be short and sweet [and if you’re wondering about my health, scroll to the bottom].

A Book

I bought Solomon Says: Directives for Young Men last August, but we had to wait for my dinner-time reader (aka husband) to finish reading aloud Screwtape Letters, followed by a month of Advent readings, before we could jump in. Our patience was rewarded in spades. Buy this book now! If you have up-and-coming pre-teens or teens, you need this book. If you have one son or many sons, buy this book. If you have one daughter or many daughters who will one day be marrying boys raised in this cesspool of a slothful pornographic culture, buy this book. Governing oneself, fighting off foolishness, and identifying and fleeing from the harlot are just a few of the topics Solomon Says author Mark Horne covers in his commentary/riffs on the book of Proverbs. Years ago, I listened to one of my favorite sermon series on Proverbs by Sinclair Ferguson, and he credited Proverbs with providing an imaginative framework for the Christian life. Having been on a 17-year quest to understand and form in four children a distinctly Christian imagination, I loved this. Just as much as I love this book. Read it as part of family devotions or an after-dinner read-aloud or during a father-son or mother-daughter study.

A Movie

I never hear about movie recommendations until they come tracking me down, which happily means I get to ignore almost everything except the best of the best. And when I heard on a podcast about the C.S. Lewis documentary, The Most Reluctant Convert, I immediately donated the $20 to watch this splendiferous movie and had my husband and children watch it as part of their weekly movie night as well. I laughed with delight for the next 75 minutes, I later told my children, because I know the biography of Lewis so well and could recognize the exact verbiage of the script, but also because Lewis has been one of the top 3 influences in how I understand the Christian life. In many ways, he has helped shape my thinking about virtually everything. After the other 5 Burrs watched it the next evening, I asked how many times they laughed out-loud, and there was some shuffling of the feet and exchanging of glances tinged with minor embarrassment, followed by a confession that perhaps one or two chortles had occurred, but they didn’t exactly find it to be side-splitting humor. Well, I remain unmoved! If you love the Christian imagination (see the above paragraph), watch this documentary, support Max Maclean and his work, and wait with baited breath for the next documentary to come out about Lewis’ literary and intellectual life post-conversion.

An Update

We have now passed through almost an entire year since my health collapse began. Every holiday and 6 birthdays have all happened with me either in bed or breaking down in tears because I can’t stay upright for the whole day. It is sobering. However, most weeks I am now doing much, much better. My energy and stamina are still not back to pre-breakdown levels, and the difficulty breathing and vertigo seem directly linked to fatigue. So though I am no longer napping multiple times a day, it’s physically difficult for me to be out of the house for two days in a row. Rebuilding has taken a whole lot longer than we ever dreamed, but at least now the daily experiences of incapacitation are fading into the past. One way to think of it: the emotional scarring is settling in rather than fresh wounds occurring.

I make no further claims to write again soon - but I always hope to. Thank you all for the dozens and dozens of notes of love and encouragement. I can’t respond to them individually, but I read and am grateful for each one.

Now, back to the project of imagination formation, with my guinea pigs at hand….

Allison