It’s been a good but long Monday.  For the first time in a while, I woke up in the early morning for no real reason.  Took my regular morning walk north even though the threat of rain was all around.  Came back, cleaned up, and got lost in a few articles before school started.  This piece by Rusty Reno at First Things sucked me in.  The comments section, which grew as I read it, almost induced some ideological whiplash.  Then I read this sobering piece that was mentioned by Alan Jacobs.  His piece, about habits, will probably be something I revisit soon.  And then it was a school day.  Classes and chapel and prepping for our first round of online tests and recording a devotional for tomorrow and dealing with emails.  I did eat well, throughout the day, which was nice, but rarely did it feel like my time was my own.  The weather was beautiful all day, even with the threat of rain.  The evening was particularly nice, and the clouds made for a great early evening sky.

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This afternoon I recorded a homeroom devotional about our expected schoolwide learning result of commitment.  It has a particular flavor, of course, because of how we articulate it: it’s about joining God in his work of restoration more than just persevering when things get tough.  I tried to use the lens of things being experienced by adults in the stay-at-home/essential businesses moment.  I hope it translates well tomorrow.

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The pandemic and lockdown have finally hit the funny pages.  WuMo has been running quarantine strips for over a week now.  Frazz has also stepped into the tricky arena of being thoughtful and funny in a world where one man’s joke could easily be another man’s despair.  But I thought today’s strip was both tasteful and thoughtful:

It’s definitely a little meta, but that’s okay.  It’s a reminder that the blend of people and places is, in its own way, essential to a thing, a part of its very essence.

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The turn from April to May brings with it a new and final unit of study in my classes, which means I’ll be spending some real time finalizing face-to-face content in an online form.  I get the sense that May could easily fly by.  I am hoping and praying that the work we do will be meaningful.  That’s no small order in these times, but I think it’s possible.  I’d like to think it’s essential.