Shipwrecked?

 

I was recently reminded of the contrast in philosophy between two poems: “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley and “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me” by Edward Hopper.

“Invictus” reads as follows:

Out of the night that covers me,

     Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

     For my unconquerable soul.

 

In the fell clutch of circumstance

     I have not winced nor cried aloud,

Under the bludgeonings of chance

     My head is bloody, but unbowed.

 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

     Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

     Finds and shall find me unafraid.

 

It matters not how strait the gate,

     How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

     I am the captain of my soul.

 

How depressing.

I’ve read comments that see the poem as celebrating perseverance and determination. To me it signifies the opposite—I see a person who would rather be shipwrecked than give up the illusory control he mistakenly thinks he has over his life.

Contrast “Invictus” with “Jesus Savior, Pilot Me.”

Jesus, Savior, pilot me

Over life’s tempestuous sea;

Unknown waves before me roll,

Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;

Chart and compass came from Thee:

Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

 

As a mother stills her child,

Thou canst hush the ocean wild;

Boisterous waves obey Thy will

When Thou say’st to them “Be still!”

Wondrous Sov’reign of the sea,

Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

 

When at last I near the shore,

And the fearful breakers roar

‘Twixt me and the peaceful rest,

Then, while leaning on Thy breast,

May I hear Thee say to me,

“Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

 

None of us can be master of our fate or captain of our soul. That’s why I have a pilot.

Big ships always use a pilot when navigating into or out of harbors and other busy or dangerous areas. Depending on the circumstances, smaller ships may use a pilot, too. That’s because there are many factors that affect a safe passage, including weather, currents, boat traffic, and hidden hazards. Even the best captains can’t know the particularities of every place they sail. And they aren’t expected to. It’s the pilot’s job to know a particular spot and guide the ship through it.

The best captains know when to accept help. Those who try to do it on their own are heading for a shipwreck. Obviously, it won’t happen every time, but once is enough. That’s why the best captains are willing to give up control.

Henley expects to experience the shipwreck of Hell.

I know I won’t.

__________

The image at the top of this post is “Shipwreck,” an 1857 painting by Dutch artist Henri Adolphe Schaep. It is in the public domain because of its age.

A Puzzling Situation

 I like doing jigsaw puzzles, so several years ago Roland got me a puzzle table for Christmas. This year I received three puzzles—one from Caroline and Pete, and two from Roland.

Caroline and Pete had seen the Ghent Altarpiece while in Brussels on vacation this past summer, so they gave me a jigsaw puzzle of the interior panels. At 8 X 10 inches with 110 pieces, it was smaller than most of the ones I do but still challenging enough to keep my interest. It also fit on my puzzle table and left plenty of room to lay out pieces around it.

When Roland bought the puzzle table, he figured that would make for easy gifts in subsequent years, when he could buy me the puzzles to go on it. But this year he discovered that he still needs to pay attention to the puzzles he buys. In particular, he bought me two 1000 piece puzzles that are 24 X 30 inches. Unfortunately, the puzzle surface on the table is more like 22 X 31. Wide enough, but not deep enough.

We considered laying a board or some other rigid surface over the puzzle table, but we didn’t have anything that would work. Buying a piece of plywood from Home Depot or Lowes was an option, but we would rather work with what we already have.

The only other choice was to use the dining room table, but that wouldn’t leave us enough room to spread out comfortably during meals. Then I remembered the leaf. Adding it to the table gave us just enough room. Problem solved.

It just takes a little ingenuity to resolve a puzzling situation.

Party Girl

 

I’m not much of a party girl, and I’ve had few birthday parties in my life. The first one I remember is my 15^th birthday, when I invited several friends to a hot dog roast at our cabin just a mile or two from our house in DeTour. (That’s me second from the left.) I’m not sure why I chose to have it there since the cabin was still under construction and had no heat, and January can be quite cold in the Upper Peninsula. I also don’t know why April McGuire was wearing curlers, but at least it shows that she was comfortable around us. And I do remember having a good time.

Fast-forward 57 years. I share a birthday with Martin Luther King, Jr., and yesterday was both of our real birthdays (not the one set for MLK by the government). But while everybody is celebrating his birthday today, I celebrated mine yesterday with a surprise party.

When I woke up in the morning, I found a card from Roland with a note that we had luncheon reservations at noon. That was strange, because he usually takes me to dinner at Café Borgia, which doesn’t take reservations. As we drove, he said that one of the nice things about his election season job is that he discovers new places to eat. But then he pulled into the parking lot at Teibels Restaurant, which is a familiar place even though we hadn’t been there for a while.

We walked inside and I saw a friend from church and her husband and thought, “Oh, they came here for lunch, too.” Then I noticed some other friends around the table at about the same time one of them said, “surprise.” Roland had invited my three best friends from church and their husbands, and it really was a surprise.

Unfortunately, we had already left before I realized that I should have had the waitress take a group photo on my cell phone. That’s why I’m using one from my 15^th birthday.

I had a lovely time, and I have a lovely husband, too.

And he’s the best present of all.

Finding Time to Read

 

In 2022 I read 122 books purely for fun. Well, maybe “purely for fun” is the wrong way to phrase it since I’m always picking up writing tips (both dos and don’ts) from reading other authors, but that number doesn’t include any of the nonfiction—including the many journals—that I read as research. I even left out the children’s fiction that I read to see how other authors have treated the same subject I’m looking to write about.

“Read” may also be a slight misnomer, since seventeen of them were audio books that I listened to while walking for exercise or doing housework.

Four of the 122 were novellas, and 42 were middle-grade novels, which tend to be shorter than adult fiction. Even so, that’s a lot of books in a year.

In spite of being retired from my legal career, I still lead a busy life. I consider myself a full-time writer, and although those writing hours include reading for research, I left those books out of the count. I'm also involved in several church ministries (e.g., choir, leading a Bible class) and am active in a local camera club. I even find time to watch Jeopardy in the afternoon and a few other game and reality shows in the evening and on weekends.

So how do I find time to do so much reading? Listening to audio books is one way. We all have moments when our body is busy but our mind isn’t. That’s the perfect time to listen to an audio book.

Then there is waiting time. If I have a doctor’s appointment or am going anywhere where I may have to wait around, I take a book. It’s usually my Kindle since that fits into my purse, but I have taken paperbacks and hardcover books, too.

I also use time that would otherwise be wasted. such as reading during commercials while watching TV. That probably won’t work for everyone since your mind has to be able to pick up the story where you left off a few minutes ago. But it does work for me.

If I’m eating a meal by myself, I read. Actually, I sometimes read when I’m eating with Roland, too, but he’s reading as well. I realize that reading while sharing a meal with others won’t work for everyone. Some people think it’s rude, but when you’ve both agreed to the practice, I don’t see it that way. And when we feel like talking, we do.

Then there are the times when most people read. An evening with nothing interesting on TV. A free Sunday afternoon. I take advantage of them, too.

If you complain that you can’t find time to read, you haven’t tried.

So read some good books this year.

Resolutions versus Goals

 

I’m only making one resolution this year, and by the time you read this I’ll have already kept it, That’s because my only resolution for 2023 is to reprint my blog post from January 7, 2019. Here it is.

Resolutions versus Goals

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I won’t say I’ve never done it, but it isn’t my normal practice. Instead, I set monthly writing goals.

As I see it, New Year’s resolutions are either achieved or broken. A resolution to drink a quart of water every day is broken the first time you drink anything less. And a resolution to lose ten pounds during the year can lull you into thinking you have twelve months to achieve it, so you don’t have any reason to be motivated until the year is almost over.

Goals are both more flexible and more forgiving. They say, “here is what I want to get done” rather than “here is what I resolve to do.” If circumstances change or life interferes, goals can be extended, modified, or even eliminated. If you simply fail to meet them, you can try again next month.

I set monthly writing goals and post them on the upper left-hand side of the bulletin board over my desk. That way, they are always there to remind me what I want to get done during the month. I have longer-term goals, too, but breaking them down into monthly pieces makes the task less daunting. And if it is less daunting, I am more likely to accomplish it.

Do I always succeed? Of course not. Some months I meet every single goal, and other months I miss on one or two. But during the year I get more done by setting monthly goals than I would by relying on New Year’s resolutions.

Or I could do both, but then I’d be depressed on January 2^nd when I broke the first resolution.

So I’ll stick with my monthly goals.