Soothing Words

It's OK, wyvern children. You may be suffering, but the nest is still secure. You are academically promising, and you are good at many other things. The only question is whether we are making you into better wyverns, as the Founder himself wanted, preparing you for all your life after school.

Are we spending too much money in pointless displays of glitz? Are we spending too much time in remedials when we should just have spent more time teaching you better? Or are we doing all this to assuage our own guilty consciences and insecurities? (Or worse, the guilty consciences and insecurities of your hapless parents?)

It's not that you haven't done good things for people, that you haven't accomplished great things in some areas. Rather, we should be focussing on your promise for the future, that you will continue to do great things, and that the things you do will be a consequence of, or will have been enabled by, the things you learnt in school.

In about nine months, your gestation will be complete. If this were a mission school, we would remind ourselves and you that the wise man (or scholar) should not boast of his wisdom, nor the mighty man (or officer) of his strength, nor the rich man (or gentleman) of his wealth — but that if any boasting has to be done, it should be about how well you know your God. We would send you out into the world with the exhortation to be shelters from the wind and refuges from the storm, like streams of water in the desert, like the shadow of a mighty rock within a burning land.

We would also show you the way you should go in this world, arming you with metaphorical swords, cloaks and purses for your travails. Based on what we have learnt of you as individuals, each with a unique confluence of gifts, experiences, interests and cultivated skills, we would help you seek the best places for furthering your ambitions and your learning. The goal here would be to place you well for your future service to God and man.

We wish you all the best that is yet to be. Our times are in His hand. Youth shows but half; trust God, see all nor be afraid.

Precipitation

It falls, and that is all it does. Anything that falls out of nowhere, as if off a cliff, out of a window, down from the sky — this is precipitation. And today, coming after the parching waves of sulfur dioxide and ash, the rain is a very welcome guest. This, this, it whispers, is the promise of love.

Do you remember what it was like to sit, not in a fine and private place, but in the open — on the bleachers, in the canteen, at the ceremonial staircase — and do nothing but talk to someone who was great company? I've had a few moments like that, spots of calm precipitation in the midst of a wearying drought.

If I had to think of geographical metaphors for the company I keep, I would stick with Isaiah: Each man shall be a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, a stream of water in the desert and the shadow of a mighty rock within a thirsty land. My friends have been in every case at least one of these things, if not all — they have been protectors of my back and flanks, shields against adversity and suppliers of good things; they have been rallying points and sources of revival to me.

The one blessing I see that is yet to come, and will yet be given to me, is the blessing of arrows in a warrior's hand. I woke up a few days ago with that vision. A voice tells me that the young people I have helped along the way might be thus, a strong and unexpected resource in a time of strife.

But for now, the rain, the rain is falling.

A Cunning Plan

Oh yes, there are already those of you who are thinking of Baldrick and Blackadder when you see the phrase 'a cunning plan'. It is no accident, however, that these three words are associated with power and the promulgation of perilous plans.

That's because the words 'king' and 'cunning' come from the same root. The qualities of a king are, taken as one group, something called 'cunning' or 'kingship'. This is probably why the Bible as a whole is not too keen on human kings, since these tend to display the more venal side of kingship.

Take for example the duties of a king as set out provisionally in Deuteronomy 17. It's very clear; do not set up as king one who is not your brother, make sure he is not imperialistic or grasping in any sense. These are all restrictions on human kingship, designed to pave the way for an ideal which was the plan from the first Adam.

But the consequences of not keeping within these restrictions are interesting. God tells Samuel what will happen in I Samuel 8. A king whose prowess is not fettered will make use of the state to further his goals. Such a king is no servant, but a tyrant. The ideal vision is quite different; it can be found in Isaiah 32; here is a king who reigns in justice and is a shelter, a nurturer, the source of good things and the greener of a barren land.

Sometimes I think that the limitation of reading tiny bits of the Bible each day is that one doesn't see the whole picture. Once in a while, many small bits should be put together to give the overall picture. Simple logic can be used in hermeneutic context. For example: a) the eagle is an unclean bird, b) you should not put up graven images of any kinds of animals... oops, but I've said enough about such things in other posts.

To summarise, cunning is kingship; kingship is cunning. But when you engineer your cunning plans, O leaders of this world, make sure that they are plans worthy of a King.

Hobgoblins

The problem with having a synthesizing mind is that you tend to see parallels in everything. For example, here is the latest Order of the Stick online comic strip. It portrays an interesting scenario; a preoccupied commander with his pet monster/associate, ruthlessly sending half his hobgoblin forces to their doom while waiting for the other half to win glory.

It is the logical result of cost/benefit analysis when applied to people instead of things. But the turnaround moment is interesting, and it begs the question, "Does it always take a really great rock to change things?"

Sanctuary

One of the many influences on how I see my place in this world is this:

Each man will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

It is found in the book of the prophet Isaiah, and it is a chastising reminder of how men ought to be. The context is that of the Sinai desert - a wide wilderness of sand and salt in the northeast of the Sinai peninsula. The wind lashes out across the flat land, stinging unprotected flesh; when it howls, whole caravans may be swallowed up. By day, the sun is blazing hot; by night, it is cold and dry. Without a shelter, without a refuge, without water or shade, the traveller perishes.

The least a man can do is to be a sanctuary. Even in the awkwardness of silence or in the weakness of disability, a man can shield others from wrath and pain. We were made to take the big hits, so that others might continue doing good. For if women are the more capable and the more useful at the business of daily life, should we not be their cannon-fodder and their defence so that they can do the things we cannot do?

What a thought. If one is not great at being a shelter and a refuge, one must at least be a source of provision and providence. Tonight I cooked, and I was happy. I washed and scrubbed and dried, and I was content. And I wish I could do more.

Daylight

Quick edit: I must thank every one of you who has shown appreciation, requested intercession, given thanks, wished for blessings upon me, expressed satisfaction, raised expectations etc. You, and the unnamed many others who have suffered me to teach them anything at all, in any way at all, are the reason for whatever gift I have and my use of that gift.

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Three things have come to me; four things have inspired me.

The first is of a rhyme written by a person who in all innocence flatters me, and to this I make reply:

Not fire nor earthquake nor wind in the night,
The ravens' King speaks in both silence and light;
The Master of men is the alchemist's sight,
True Lord of wisdom and my intellect's might.

The second is from the difficult creed of my professional life, taken from the thirty-second chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah:

2 Each man will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

The third is in reflection upon some words of that great bard of Cymru, Dylan Thomas:

I have sworn that my words will fork lightning;
I have chosen to walk upon water;
I desire to be light on a hill
Before the end comes,
Before I must leave.

And the fourth is in my heart, and there it stays.