Hey Tim, I’m new here. I just finished reading (and absolutely loving) “Beauty Chasers” and can’t wait to read more of your writing. Especially this new book! 🤯🤯🤯
Three things come to mind when talking about God’s light in my life.
1. I have always absolutely adored sunlight. I struggle deeply on cloudy days with depression (so thankful to live in Arizona where those are rare!) and Jesus’ voice has always felt like sunshine in my soul.
2. In the last few months, I have discovered classic poetry (everything from Chaucer to Elizabeth Bishop) for the first time (my homeschooling was utterly lacking when it came to literature) and the first time I heard Wordsworth (from The Prelude) it felt like sunlight on my soul. I have been chasing this sunlight every single day since. I can’t get enough!
3. My family and I are in the final stages of building (with our own hands) our house. We’ve been living in RVs for the last 3 years pouring our blood, sweat (oh! so! much! sweat!!!) and tears into this project. And of all the things I love watching come to shape before my eyes, my favorite thing has been discovering how the light plays out in each room, corner and angle. It’s something I hadn’t considered in the process of all the dreaming of the last 4 years, and it is wildly beautiful!
Hi Sarah! Thank you so much for sharing! How wonderful that you are so deep into poetry. Wordsworth and Frost were my first loves as a young teen in high school. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud--I can still remember how it made me feel the first time I read it. Wordsworth is timeless; I'm constantly unfolding his thoughts.
And wow! The RV experience and building the new home with your hands. I'm sure it's been quite the journey! I, too, love how light plays in our living spaces and how important light is in our homes.
Yes! I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” ❤️
This is going down a poetry rabbit hole, but since I simultaneously was reading “The Beauty Chasers” and discovering poetry at the same time, I’ve mentally asked you this question many times. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Is it just me or did something happen to poetry in the early 1900s? I haven’t read enough poetry [I’ve mostly been going through anthologies of the most famous poems] to know for sure if this is true, but if feels like poetry lost so much of its beauty in the first couple of decades in the 1900s. Maybe around the First World War?
In my experience so far, at least 80% of the poems from the beginning of the collection I’m reading up until the 1900s-ish absolutely thrills my heart. Even in painful, despairing poems, there is still a light that comes through. But there seems to be this darkness that not only comes through, but lingers with me after reading a lot of the more modern poets. Stein, Berryman, Ginsberg… I just don’t see the beauty. Even Elliot… I love his way of saying things, but it feels like there is a darkness in what he is saying.
I thought maybe it was my church raising (which was not healthy) reacting to people who didn’t believe the way I do. But I found out Percy Bysshe Shelley was an atheist and “Ode to the West Wind” is one of the best prayers to the Holy Spirit I have ever heard. So it’s not that.
There are a few 1900s poets I do adore. Thomas Dylan, William Carlos Williams and Elizabeth Bishop. But for the most part it feels like something went missing around that time.
Once again, please remember that in all of this, I have only skimmed the surface. I may have just read a poor selection.
Tim, your words are an encouragement and a kind of harmonizing for me. Lately I have been considering the light as it enters my home in the morning and the light of the afternoon and sunsets in the evenings. The beauty and the glory of it. I think about God’s faithfulness seen in the regularity of His light. And the Light. Thank you for your words so well crafted.
Thank you, Jane. I love that you've been reflecting on the glory and beauty of light in your home. I think light brings something fundamental and essential to our lived experience that is sometimes hard to articulate. Interesting how our spirits can immediately sense the lack of light in a space.
Tim…Denise Davis here. I’m the Professional Organizer who met you at Foraged Beauty at Daune & Keith’s in 2023!!
I am wondering if you are going to or SPEAKING at the C.S. Lewis Institute July 24-30? I have some good friends who are going and I’ve told them all about you, your wonderful book and Substack writing!!
This is so beautiful. I've been loving processing all the thoughts you are sharing and the way you are weaving awe-inspiring science with truth and wondering at all of it. It's so thought-provoking, and I feel like I'm feeding my mind and my soul when I read.
I especially love where you talk about God becoming man, coming down, reaching for us, in this "light" language.
"Light bends low, calling us not merely to look upward but to embrace its radiance."
"the infinite Light bending into finite form."
"the Light of the World stepping into a world of decay. The divine kavod—the weight of God's glory—wrapped in flesh."
Beautiful, beautiful thoughts that I will definitely be continuing to think about. Thank you for sharing.
Not very long ago, I was on a journey toward chaos and ceaseless entropy. I was consumed by near constant and growing depression, and filled with dark thoughts which convinced me I was fit for nothing better. I didn't believe in myself, or in the love of God for me. This was the fundamental flaw, the missing rung on the ladder to Life. I didn't believe in the love of God, not really.
To make a long story short, through my giving up on what I believed, through running away, and discovering in the process the relentless pursuit of God, I found myself engulfed by love, and changed from a person who was merely familiar with religion, to one who had been introduced to Divine Love, to Jesus Christ Himself, tender, patient, kind, understanding, and oh-so-persistent in His love for me.
Five years ago I wouldn't have imagined that I would so passionately wish people to know this love of God, for I didn't believe in it myself. What a grace, to be so changed.
Darkness to light, grace upon grace, and glory to glory.
Hey Tim, I’m new here. I just finished reading (and absolutely loving) “Beauty Chasers” and can’t wait to read more of your writing. Especially this new book! 🤯🤯🤯
Three things come to mind when talking about God’s light in my life.
1. I have always absolutely adored sunlight. I struggle deeply on cloudy days with depression (so thankful to live in Arizona where those are rare!) and Jesus’ voice has always felt like sunshine in my soul.
2. In the last few months, I have discovered classic poetry (everything from Chaucer to Elizabeth Bishop) for the first time (my homeschooling was utterly lacking when it came to literature) and the first time I heard Wordsworth (from The Prelude) it felt like sunlight on my soul. I have been chasing this sunlight every single day since. I can’t get enough!
3. My family and I are in the final stages of building (with our own hands) our house. We’ve been living in RVs for the last 3 years pouring our blood, sweat (oh! so! much! sweat!!!) and tears into this project. And of all the things I love watching come to shape before my eyes, my favorite thing has been discovering how the light plays out in each room, corner and angle. It’s something I hadn’t considered in the process of all the dreaming of the last 4 years, and it is wildly beautiful!
Hi Sarah! Thank you so much for sharing! How wonderful that you are so deep into poetry. Wordsworth and Frost were my first loves as a young teen in high school. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud--I can still remember how it made me feel the first time I read it. Wordsworth is timeless; I'm constantly unfolding his thoughts.
And wow! The RV experience and building the new home with your hands. I'm sure it's been quite the journey! I, too, love how light plays in our living spaces and how important light is in our homes.
Yes! I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” ❤️
This is going down a poetry rabbit hole, but since I simultaneously was reading “The Beauty Chasers” and discovering poetry at the same time, I’ve mentally asked you this question many times. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Is it just me or did something happen to poetry in the early 1900s? I haven’t read enough poetry [I’ve mostly been going through anthologies of the most famous poems] to know for sure if this is true, but if feels like poetry lost so much of its beauty in the first couple of decades in the 1900s. Maybe around the First World War?
In my experience so far, at least 80% of the poems from the beginning of the collection I’m reading up until the 1900s-ish absolutely thrills my heart. Even in painful, despairing poems, there is still a light that comes through. But there seems to be this darkness that not only comes through, but lingers with me after reading a lot of the more modern poets. Stein, Berryman, Ginsberg… I just don’t see the beauty. Even Elliot… I love his way of saying things, but it feels like there is a darkness in what he is saying.
I thought maybe it was my church raising (which was not healthy) reacting to people who didn’t believe the way I do. But I found out Percy Bysshe Shelley was an atheist and “Ode to the West Wind” is one of the best prayers to the Holy Spirit I have ever heard. So it’s not that.
There are a few 1900s poets I do adore. Thomas Dylan, William Carlos Williams and Elizabeth Bishop. But for the most part it feels like something went missing around that time.
Once again, please remember that in all of this, I have only skimmed the surface. I may have just read a poor selection.
Tim, your words are an encouragement and a kind of harmonizing for me. Lately I have been considering the light as it enters my home in the morning and the light of the afternoon and sunsets in the evenings. The beauty and the glory of it. I think about God’s faithfulness seen in the regularity of His light. And the Light. Thank you for your words so well crafted.
Thank you, Jane. I love that you've been reflecting on the glory and beauty of light in your home. I think light brings something fundamental and essential to our lived experience that is sometimes hard to articulate. Interesting how our spirits can immediately sense the lack of light in a space.
Thank you, Tim. I had not thought of how our spirits sense a lack of light. Something to think through.
Wow! Yes! And amen!
Aw, thank you, Grace!
Tim…Denise Davis here. I’m the Professional Organizer who met you at Foraged Beauty at Daune & Keith’s in 2023!!
I am wondering if you are going to or SPEAKING at the C.S. Lewis Institute July 24-30? I have some good friends who are going and I’ve told them all about you, your wonderful book and Substack writing!!
Let me know! My email address is denise@effectiveorganizingsolutions.com if you want to reply to this offline!!
Denise! Yes! I remember you! How are you? Sadly, I am not going to the Lewis Institute gathering in July. I'll reach out to you via email.
This is so beautiful. I've been loving processing all the thoughts you are sharing and the way you are weaving awe-inspiring science with truth and wondering at all of it. It's so thought-provoking, and I feel like I'm feeding my mind and my soul when I read.
I especially love where you talk about God becoming man, coming down, reaching for us, in this "light" language.
"Light bends low, calling us not merely to look upward but to embrace its radiance."
"the infinite Light bending into finite form."
"the Light of the World stepping into a world of decay. The divine kavod—the weight of God's glory—wrapped in flesh."
Beautiful, beautiful thoughts that I will definitely be continuing to think about. Thank you for sharing.
Not very long ago, I was on a journey toward chaos and ceaseless entropy. I was consumed by near constant and growing depression, and filled with dark thoughts which convinced me I was fit for nothing better. I didn't believe in myself, or in the love of God for me. This was the fundamental flaw, the missing rung on the ladder to Life. I didn't believe in the love of God, not really.
To make a long story short, through my giving up on what I believed, through running away, and discovering in the process the relentless pursuit of God, I found myself engulfed by love, and changed from a person who was merely familiar with religion, to one who had been introduced to Divine Love, to Jesus Christ Himself, tender, patient, kind, understanding, and oh-so-persistent in His love for me.
Five years ago I wouldn't have imagined that I would so passionately wish people to know this love of God, for I didn't believe in it myself. What a grace, to be so changed.
Darkness to light, grace upon grace, and glory to glory.