Sarah Dixon Young's Blog: Love Much, page 17

The Curator, Part 1

“I acquired this piece after a lengthy court battle,” the Curator said, motioning to his left. 

I gazed intently at the ornate sarcophagus housed in a dimly lit display case. The golden skin and ruby eyes of the case no longer looked like the face of the dried and shrunken mummy inside it. 

“I really wondered during some of the deliberations whether I would win this artifact in the end,” the Curator droned. “The back-and-forth, back-and-forth was tiresome. I really wish some people wouldn...

Something out of Nothing

This week, my kindergartener and I studied Elisha and the Widow’s jars.

Our Bible study routine is always the same. I get out the flannel board, and he gets out the Bible. I tell the same Bible story every morning for the whole week, and he never gets tired of it. Actually, if I miss a part, he corrects me.

One week, by Friday, I thought it would be good to change up the routine a little, so I told the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel beginning at the end of the story and working backward. T...

Idling

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who attended Sunday school.

He grew up and died. That’s the end of the story, and there is no happily ever after.

The rows and rows of faces, who were once happy little children in my Sunday school class, but grew up to be lost to addiction, accident, murder, abuse, and suicide, make me feel hopeless for the rest of them.

If I feel hopeless, what must the parents and grandparents feel who are watching their beloved children be consumed by sin?

...

Made Visible

When Dr. Ian Donald was drafted into the Royal Air Force as a medical officer in 1942, he had no idea how the Lord would use the knowledge he gained using sonar and radar. 

In 1946, he was discharged from military service and awarded for his bravery during the war. He returned to practicing medicine.

Remembering the use of medical respirators during his time in the RAF, Dr. Donald developed new respiration devices to be used on newborns, saving many lives as he worked as an Obstetrics doc...

This is the Work

Last week, my kids got vaccinations. 

As the nurse set out the band-aids and calmly talked us through the process, I appreciated her efficiency and adeptness.

Later that same day, my son had football practice. It was raining. The coach, who arrived before anyone else, put on his rain gear and got ready for the bus load of players. His efficiency and adeptness shone as he greeted the players by name and got them started on calisthenics.

My phone rang. Someone was enjoying ministry, but ...

Cultivating Meaning

As soon as I make a cup of tea, it cools and I drink it. It isn’t static. It doesn’t grow warmer nor does my cup refill itself.

The modern mind suffers under the delusion that everything is improving all the time even when we have hard evidence to the contrary.

I have been enjoying Owen Barfield’s Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning. He discusses why when we say “old prophets” it means something different than when we say “prophets old.” The meaning in our words matters.

Barfield notes,...

Catalytic Converter

Yesterday, someone asked me if I was a teacher or a student. As a home educator, I can proudly answer, “Both!”

The kids and I did a science experiment this week that still has the wheels of my brain turning. In Jay Wile’s Science in the Industrial Age, he details the life and work of Jons Jakob Berzelius. In addition to exploring chemical formulas, denatured proteins, and organic chemicals, we also learned about catalysts.

Our experiment explored the behavior of a catalyst.

First, we a...

The River Road

If we hurried in the morning, we would have a few extra minutes to take the river road to school. 

Of the two routes, it was preferable. U.S. 1, flanked by used car dealerships and run down gas stations, was cluttered with cars and offered no enticing scenery. However, Indian River Drive wove alongside the Indian River Lagoon where my father and his father before him fished, dove for lobster, and caught shrimp and crab. 

We might see porpoises, osprey, seaturtles, or schools of mullet. Da...

In Deep Water

Swimming lessons had us at the pool more often this summer, and the most common phrase I heard there was “Don’t go so deep!”

Why are children allured by deep water? They splash and play happily, all while edging closer and closer to that moment when the level of the water will be above their noses. Mothers may issue cautions aplenty, but children still drift ever closer to the deep end.

In E.B. White’s classic children’s tale The Trumpet of the Swan, the main character Louis contemplates ...

Pressed

These are the flowers I picked with my grandmother when I was 3 years old.

It was 1987. We picked some wildflowers from beside the road as we walked and chose cultivated varieties from her garden. Then, she showed me how to press them between pages of newsprint in her flower press.

If she hadn’t, the petals would have disintegrated long ago. I probably wouldn’t even remember them.

As it is, I can still see their colors. I remember what she said as we walked. I remember the way she knel...