Our Bull’s-Eye

“An image suggesting this kind of private relationship with the Lord is described in a story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson tells of his boyhood, growing  up in a part of England where darkness came early in the evening. He and his friends imitated British policemen by carrying small, tin “bull’s-eye” lanterns on their belts. Just for the fun of it, Stevenson and his friends made a game out of hiding the glowing lantern inside their buttoned overcoats and then making their way along the dark paths as if they had no light with them. In Stevenson’s words:

When two of these [lads] met, there would be an anxious, “have you got your lantern?” and a gratified “Yes!” That was the shibboleth, and very needful, too; for, as it was the rule to keep our glory contained, none could recognize a lantern-bearer unless (like the polecat) by the smell….The essence of this bliss was to walk by yourself in the black night, the slide shut, the top-coat buttoned, not a ray escaping, whether to conduct your footsteps or to make your glory public,—a mere pillar of darkness in the dark; and all the while, deep down in the privacy of your foo’s heart, to know you had a bull’s-eye at your belt, and to exult and sing over the knowledge….

[One’s] life from without may seem but a rude mound of mud: [but] there will be some golden chamber at the heart of it, in which he dwells delighted; and for as dark as his pathway seems to the observer, he will have some kind of bull’s-eye at his belt.

Stevenson then describes the ultimate subjectivity of true joy, noting that other people simply cannot fully appreciate the innermost delights and sorrows of our lives. He suggests that if we could only experience forms of joy quickly perceived and acknowledged by others, that kind of joy would fall far short of the high forms of happiness and insight of which the human soul is capable…

To feel this assurance is to sense the reward of peace in this world and the promise of eternal life in the world to come. This is a more excellent way.”

-The Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life’s Experiences (Expanded Edition) by Bruce C. Hafen

Nobody to Somebody

“An unbelievable twist for two kids who had been palmed off on an uncaring guardian who, in turn, palmed them off on a series of au pairs. Now they knew the truth—they were relatives of Benjamin Franklin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and more—geniuses, visionaries, and global leaders. We were nobody. Suddenly we have a chance to shape the world….”  - One False Note by Gordon Korman

This section I read in my book really got me thinking about how I am slowly learning through experiences that I am somebody and have potential. I can do something that will effect other’s lives for good.

Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book.

- Stéphane Mallarmé, a French poet

Sounds of a City

As I read this, I wondered how this would physically feel if I experienced it too...stuck in a smothered and quiet place and then allowed to see and feel the liveliness of a city.

"As we rode onto the avenue, the sound of our horses' hooves was muddled with the other noises of the city. It was just before midday, and we were in the middle of the last surge of activity before people withdrew into their homes to wait out the afternoon heat. There were a few other horses on the road, and many more donkeys. People traveled on foot and in sedan chairs carried by servants. Merchants brought their goods up the avenue in carts and then led loaded donkeys down the narrow alleys to the back doors of the great houses, hoping to sell their vegetables to the cook, their linen to the housekeeper, or their wine to the steward. There was jostling and shouting and noise, and I relished it after the perpetual smothered quiet of the prison."

-The Thief, a book written by Megan Whalen Turner

This is a great book, by the way. Julie, my wife, read it for her young adult literature class and really wanted me to read it so I did. I’m enjoying it so far. There is a swear word that shows up a few times near the beginning so it’s not one I would own without marking that word out, but I love the story and characters so far

The book is about a young man who is a thief. He got caught by the king’s soldiers and had been in prison for many months when the king and his scholar takes the young man, Gen, out of prison in order to steal something for them. One thing I love about this book is how the author put Greece landscape into it in a way. There are olive trees all over

I hope y’all will enjoy it as much as I do.