Adam B. Shaeffer's Blog
January 9, 2023
Imagine a better world
This is ultimately going to be a reflection on money. But to get there, we’re going to look at Propaganda’s Terraform, particularly the difference between empire and kingdom, by way of Middle-earth. Trust me. It’s all going to fit together.
If you’ve read any of my entries up ‘til now, you probably know that I’m rarely reading one thing at a time. And I’m often reading disparate things that make me think new thoughts and engage with the world in different ways. And I almost always see connect...
December 19, 2022
Tolkien Dogmatics
Hey folks! This Wednesday (12/21) at 10am PST, I’ll be interviewing Austin M. Freeman about his new book Tolkien Dogmatics. The link above should take you there.
November 21, 2022
Untitled
Like a cancer, we spread across the land,
stretching ourselves to the furthest extent,
crowding out
and devouring
all else
in our beautiful, mysterious home.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
There’s a better way of living:
one that doesn’t exploit
or ravage
or waste.
We can live
and move
simply,
slowly,
graciously,
intentionally
upon the land:
This good gift from the God
who loves us even though
we are bent toward wreckage,
who sees us in our quiet and our despair,
who knows us in our ugly and su...
November 14, 2022
The ink is for me
I can’t quite remember when it first began,
but I’ve returned to the practice again and again.
I write out my prayers in ink on a page,
but I simply write over the previous days.
Words cover words, and colors collide.
But God sees and He knows all the meaning inside.
I can never go back to recover what’s written,
can’t gather the words or take back what I’ve given.
The Trustworthy One reads sense in this riot
of thinking and inking, of words in the quiet.
Even when all of my ink pots are empty,
...
October 31, 2022
Union
October 24, 2022
Holes
Holes pierce me
mostly through.
Each goes deep,
loosing what’s within.
It pours from me,
rich and thick and beautiful.
It cuts through the haze
and whirl around me,
setting off each shade
of the brand new sky.
These holes, you see,
expose the me,
that no one else
can grasp or see:
the me
that is made
entirely
of light.
October 17, 2022
The Sound of Stillness
I wonder if the quiet of God’s voice might flow from non-coercion. God will not force our hand, and so he will not shout. God will not demand our attention, will not force himse...
October 10, 2022
We Sow Echoes
I am limited.
Finite.
Closed and constrained by many things:
entropy,
the “law” of diminishing returns,
embodiment.
And yet,
I am bounded by abundance.
A world spun out in space
with all it needs for everyone to thrive.
There is more than enough to go around,
if only we could see it so.
If only we would see it so.
And so, these words fall
from open hands.
My small share.
These few seeds cast
in faith and hope and love
into the dirt
to see what grows.
Words sown like those
that spoke forth everyt...
October 3, 2022
In Progress
This post is a little glimpse into the way my mind works. Not intentionally so, but more as a natural side-effect of me sitting down with a pen and paper to record my thoughts in the moment.
So, I’m reading a few books right now, and one thing I love about doing that is seeing connections between them in ways that feel immediate and fresh, unforced and natural in ways that prolonged, intentional reflection can’t achieve. Don’t get me wrong. I love prolonged and intentional reflection. It’s where...
April 16, 2022
The Tomb
There is a grief beyond words,
a finality
found in this tomb.
The Giver of Life
and Defeater of Death
has died
and lies here
shrouded and buried.
The hillside’s open maw
has swallowed not just my Lord’s body –
broken and bloodied by senseless torture –
but also every last scrap of my hope.
Nothing remains.
So here I’ll sit
in the dark outside His tomb,
and weep
for the loss of his light
and the death of my dreams.
What else can I do?
Who can do for my Lord
what he did for others?
Who but he can r...
