DANCING INSANELY
“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Neitzche
Or, to paraphrase the great philosopher, Those who were seen worshiping God were thought to be insane by those who could not see Him.
Neitzche the atheist probably didn’t intend to craft a meaningful spiritual analogy. He lived in the physical realm. And dancing is one of the most physical forms of self-expression one can indulge in. Yet it’s obvious his words resonate with Christians such as myself who grow frustrated with the world’s denial of God. To us, God’s existence is the Rock on which we stand. To deny His existence is like claiming one’s own father doesn’t exist.
In my novel Dance to My Lu (click on My Books above), the protagonist is a professional dancer who experiences this truth for herself after her conversion to Christ…
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10 SHORT MEDIEVAL POEMS EVERYONE SHOULD READ
Looking for some great short medieval poems which are easy to read? Look no further than this, our latest post…
Medieval poetry can be a daunting field to dip into (to mix our metaphors terribly). Although Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Dante’s Divine Comedy are masterpieces and essential reading, perhaps the best route into medieval poetry – as with any poetry – is to start small. What follows is our pick of the best short medieval poems written in English.
They are all presented in the original Middle English, because here at Interesting Literature we believe that that’s the best way to read the poems. This does mean that several words/phrases need glossing, so we’ve done this briefly before each poem. All of these poems were written (or at least written down) some time during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: our source for them is the excellent Penguin book of Medieval…
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LIFE IS A JOURNEY/LIFE IS A SMORGASBORD
IS LIFE A JOURNEY, OR A SMORGASBORD?
You hear it a lot: Life is a journey. I love author Pat Conroy’s take on it: “Without music, life is a journey through a desert.” Howard, the protagonist from my first book, would agree with Pat. He says it like this:
“I’m Howard ‘The Declan’ McCreary,
I strum my guitar ’til I’m bleary.
If I write a song
Will you sing along?
For life without music is dreary.”
The phrase “Life is a journey” begs the question: a journey to where? I’ve never heard of anyone taking a journey without a destination in mind. What is your journey’s destination? Some would say, to fulfill all my dreams. To achieve all my goals. To read every self-help book on Amazon’s virtual shelf.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we will realize that the end of our journey is death [insert shiver here]. For the believer in Christ, that means eternal life with God. We believers typically do treat our lives as a journey that we travel together, with Christ as our leader. Close your eyes and imagine a narrow path, bodies trudging single-file, hands forming a human chain. At the head of the line, you see Christ. That’s one visual of the Christian life.
Some might argue, no, life is a smorgasbord. I recently read a blog asserting this. You get to sample everything, decide what you like, and ignore the rest. This resonates with me. At my age, I’ve figured out what I want on my plate, how much I want to consume, what I can’t live without. At my age, I want my life journey to include enjoyment and exclude unpleasantness. I don’t want to have to eat anything I don’t like.
Unfortunately, this approach isn’t exactly compatible with the life of a believer. Jesus described the Christian life as a narrow road. He said nothing about feasting along the way. He said we’d experience hardships and persecution. My own life smorgasbord has served up a few unpleasant surprises which looked appetizing from far away.
I now see it like this: we walk the narrow road behind Christ, but we sometimes get distracted when the buffet looks good. We fill our plates with the things that look delicious to us. Thus, although life IS a journey, we have an enemy who tries to waylay us with appetizing smorgasbords along the way.
UNMASKING THE NIGERIAN CON MAN – PART I
You’ve probably heard the tragic stories of women who’ve been scammed by a man they met on a dating site. Just when she’s thinking this is the man of her dreams, he tells her he needs X number of dollars wired overseas right now because he’s been robbed. Or he was caught in an accident, or a hurricane swept away all his belongings, blah blah blah. With her heart throbbing in sympathy, she sends him hundreds of dollars, fully expecting a huge thank you, or even a ring. Instead, she never hears from him again. To her horror, she realizes she’s been conned.
I wish I could turn the clock back for those poor sister-women and point out all the red flags these guys wave, flags we can recognize, if we would only pay attention. (On a side note – some of them might even be women posing as men, just to get their little hands on your hard-earned moolah.)
I myself have encountered these persons online more than once. I’m happy to say I never fell for their sordid schemes, but I can see how it could be easy to do if I’d let my heart run loose. Over the years, I’ve found they all show some common traits, so, for the sake of sisterhood, I’m here to tell you what those are so you’ll never, ever have to be victimized.
Here are five red flags. When you see several of them in one match, Run! Unless you want to “sting” them, which is super fun. I know from personal experience. J More on this in Part II.
- Stilted, unnatural English. These guys are usually in Africa somewhere, most commonly Nigeria, so they don’t write like native English speakers. Scrutinize their profile and watch for language-butchering. For example: “One of my greatest passions is helping others. Its ritual of me to visit the orphanage homes and less privileged often.” Can you see the problem? This is from someone who claims to live in England, but a native English speaker would not say, “its ritual of me,” or use the term “orphanage homes.” He’d say something more like, “I often visit orphanages and the less privileged.”
- Flowery language. They use words meant to flatter, yet they’re filled with English so butchered, the sentences practically scream in pain. “Your beutiful smile captures my attention.i saw your face and want to know you better.” They refer to God and blessings a lot, careful to give the impression they’re active Christians. Don’t be disarmed by this, ladies.
- Resident of Europe. Now let’s get real. How many men do you think truly fall in love with a woman thousands of miles away before he’s even met her? Most men I know want to meet and date a woman at least somewhat close to home. But not all charmers who are only after your money will claim European residence. Sometimes they say they’re US-based, but they just happen to be overseas when they begin corresponding with you. So watch for that!
- Business owner. They take frequent business trips to Africa and Europe. This lends credibility to their claim that they are stranded in Africa and need your money to visit you because they long to see your beautiful face for the first time. Yeah, right!
- Widowed. Their wives either died of breast cancer or were killed in a terrible car accident. Obviously, this is meant to play on your sympathies. Don’t fall for it!
Naturally, there are legitimate matches out there who live overseas, own businesses, and are widowed. In my experience, flags #1 & #2 also come with loud bells attached.
In Part II, I’ll share my own experiences with online con men, and I will show you a trick on how to find out if he’s using a fake identity.
WRITE WHAT YOU (KNOW) IMAGINE
Write about what you know, the experts say.
If I only wrote about what I knew, what a limited scope I’d have to choose from. Instead, my motto has become, Write What I Imagine.
How can a woman write from the viewpoint of a man when she’s never been a man in her life?
How does a conservative classical-music lover get into the head of an aspiring rocker?
How would a web-footed Northwesterner know about life in San Francisco?
Only through imagination. And lots of research.
If I wrote only what I know, I’d write of a boring, white, middle-aged, single, female writer who lives in Oregon.
I can see the title now. “Single White Female Seeking a Life.”
I’m quite sure J.R.R. Tolkien had never been, or met, a hobbit in his life. (Unless it happens to be a well-guarded secret.) And I would bet Stephen King never practiced telekinesis, or knew anyone who did.
So I had to allow my imagination to soar when I wrote my two novels. I loved “stepping into the shoes” of people considerably different from myself, people with different values, speech patterns, lifestyles, beliefs. I, the grammar geek, learned to “speak” in ghetto slang. I learned how to think and talk like a man. In real life, however, I still speak and think like me.
It’s like being an actor. Like a woman playing a male role. A white woman playing the role of an inner-city Hispanic.
Whenever I look back on my handful of experiences playing a role on stage, I mostly cringe. But the word processor is much more forgiving. If I don’t get it right the first time, there’s not yet an audience to boo me off the stage. I can keep cutting and pasting until I get it right.
And it has stretched me tighter than a rubber band.
DANCING INSANELY
“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Neitzche
Or, to paraphrase the great philosopher, Those who were seen worshiping God were thought to be insane by those who could not see Him.
Neitzche the atheist probably didn’t intend to craft a meaningful spiritual analogy. He lived in the physical realm. And dancing is one of the most physical forms of self-expression one can indulge in. Yet it’s obvious his words resonate with Christians such as myself who grow frustrated with the world’s denial of God. To us, God’s existence is the Rock on which we stand. To deny His existence is like claiming one’s own father doesn’t exist.
In my novel Dance to My Lu (click on My Books above), the protagonist is a professional dancer who experiences this truth for herself after her conversion to Christ. Once her eyes are opened, she sees God everywhere: in the sky, in the morning dew, in the leaves on the trees. And she marvels that those around her walk on by God without ever seeing Him. If she were to point Him out, they would think her insane—a “religious nut”, a “wild-eyed fanatic.” When in reality, they are the blind ones who cannot see God.
Dawn V. Cahill - Hot Topic Christian Fiction 