Today’s Search

I Flunked Song of Solomon 907

I wrote it for ninth graders and overshot the mark.

You may know I’m writing Old Testament lessons for high school freshmen. Recently I got to the sole lesson on the Song of Solomon.

The instructions I had were quite elementary:

The lesson focus is that last sentence.

In addition to those mandated parameters, I had these of my own:

  • Make it practical for ninth graders.
  • Avoid eye-rolling stretching to make the passage point to Christ and the church.

Well, I finally settled on using these passages:

  • Song of Solomon 2:4 (85)
  • Song of Solomon 4:1-7 (176)
  • Song of Solomon 5:10-16 (143)
  • Song of Solomon 7:10 (107)
  • Song of Solomon 8:6,7 (217)

The numbers in parentheses tell you how many words I dedicated to each passage.

I began and ended the lesson with these paragraphs respectively:

Song of Solomon is a difficult, much-debated, little-understood book. Perhaps it describes a real-life romance. Perhaps it’s more a poem or play to instruct and encourage husbands and wives. Perhaps it’s an intricate allegory illustrating God’s relationship with His people. Perhaps it’s some combination of those. This lesson, though, will help you consider several portions of the Song of Solomon from three different angles: pre-marriage guidelines, marital principles, and spiritual truths pertaining to Christ and the church.

Nothing shall be able to separate us from divine love (Romans 8:35-39). As the church is secure in Christ, so the church must secure her love for Christ alone (Matthew 24:12; Revelation 2:4). We should let Him know in thought, word, and deed that we are His alone.

Considering the parameters I had, I was enamored with what I submitted. Well, that’s too strong. Maybe infatuated. No, not that either. Pleased, anyway.

So much for feelings. I received instructions to please rewrite the lesson. :mrgreen:

(Oh, you’re wondering about the 907 in the post title? Well, 101 is so predictable, passé, and/or blasé.)

Today I started that process by reading through Song of Solomon. Alas, now I’m less optimistic than when I started. 😯

Do you have any passages to suggest (that fall within the above parameters)?

Why Extending Your Arms Helps Your Equilibrium

It has to do with your center of gravity.

Mark Roth doing a balancing act

Whether walking along a train track rail or across the top of a fence, having your arms outstretched helps you maintain your balance.

Whether walking a tightrope or a wall or a rafter, stretching your arms out from your sides seems to help keep you on the rope, wall, or rafter.

Why? Or is it all an illusion?

Unaided, a person’s center of balance is located just beneath their ribcage, about halfway from the ground to the top of a person’s head. This means that we balance from this part of our bodies. Carrying a long pole lowers our center of balance, just as holding out our arms to the sides does. If the pole is long enough, a person’s center of balance can be lowered to their knees, ankles or even the tops of their feet. A lower center of balance makes it easier for anyone to balance while walking across even a narrow rope.

Center of Balance

To get along well in life, we need a good sense of balance — physically, mentally, socially, spiritually. So along those lines, a few random thoughts…

People have tried for too long to “balance” their secular life with their “Christian” life. (May a Christian Do That?)

Blessing God does not undo my railing against another. It won’t even act as a counter balance to my evil speaking, somehow evening the score and giving me a clean slate. (Window to My Heart) Read it all

Migrating Hummingbirds and We Feeders

“If we refill our hummer feeder, will we discombobulate their migration schedule?”

Our morning concern yesterday weighed heavily enough on us that I did some quick research. After all, we didn’t want our zooming little “pets” to stick around too long and then experience . . . ah . . . “weather issues” here in northwest Oregon.

We replenished the feeder with our usual homemade hummingbird juice, because… Read it all

Look What I Learned on Twitter

I don’t use Twitter much, except when my WordPress blogs auto-post Tweets at the time I publish a new piece.

But half an hour ago or so, I Googled Key Bank because of site issues they seem to be having. And the search result I clicked was someone’s Twitter comment.

From there I eventually ended up on my own Twitter account…and saw this: Read it all

Needed: Real Pacifiers

I just Googled peace prize and gospel treyvon (among other searches), checking for recent (last 24 hours) news stories.

From what I could tell, no Nobel Peace Prize winner has stepped up to knock down the fires since my post yesterday, Calling Peace Prize Laureates. (Or before, for that matter.)

Nor could I see any evidence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being offered as applicable to the race mess that continues to burble and gurgle. Read it all

Above all, love God!