7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 41): autumn, autocorrect, and amazing grace

— 1 —

graphic courtesy of ©Depositphotos.com / Olivier26

For the past two days, it has been dark, rainy, and cold here.  It’s relatively depressing, and makes me want to wear bulky sweaters, watch movies, and make pot roast.  I was thinking about how to describe this sudden shift in the weather and I realized that, living in Illinois, there’s just not much you can say.  “Autumn has come to the mountains, and the morning breezes hinted at the smell of frost.”  That’s something you can say when you live somewhere spectacular, like Vermont.  “Autumn has come to the flatlands, and it’s just windy, wet, and cold” just does not have the same ring to it.

— 2 —

I discovered yesterday that my phone autocorrects the word “woo-hoo!” to “woo-boo!”  Which pretty much sums up the way I feel about the sudden arrival of fall.  “Woo” for the changing of the seasons and the beauty of falling leaves, and “boo” to the suddenness of the weather change and the damp kind of cold that gets into your bones.  (And yes, I’m aware that the expression “woo-hoo!” is a part of my vocabulary because I’ve spent entirely too much time watching reruns of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  Don’t judge.)

— 3 —

I just heard Taylor Swift’s new single “Shake It Off” for the first time last night.  It’s kind of catchy, in a weird sort of way.  There’s been some debate about the video (which I won’t link to here, because I can’t recommend it to all audiences) – as to whether she’s being ridiculously shallow or making a brilliant commentary on a few other female pop artists.  Having seen the video, I think I’d lean more towards: “trying to make a brilliant commentary but not quite succeeding.”  I haven’t found anything on what Taylor herself says about it, but I think it takes guts to keep pushing yourself artistically, so bravo.

— 4 —

I’ve debated posting this one, for fear that it might offend.  I shared a video last week by a guy named Chase Holfelder, who is doing a project called “Major to Minor” – taking popular songs and rewriting them in minor keys.  I loved his version of “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” so much that I started listening to his music and watching some of his other videos.  I actually really like this one of “Amazing Grace.”  If you choose to watch it, please listen to him and then also choose not to get offended, okay?  The second verse that he wrote is really dark – but I was impressed by its honesty.

What I like about it is that it gives language to what St. John of the Cross calls “the dark night of the soul.”  As Christians, we can sometimes be afraid to really own the darker seasons that we might go through (or feel confusion about how to walk with our friends who are going through them) – seasons when we might feel completely alienated from God for whatever reason.   But words have power, and sometimes simply expressing pain, disillusionment, heartache, grief, and anger can be the key to walking out of that dark night.  And for someone who isn’t a Christian at all, expressing those same things and admitting to feeling like they’re on the outside looking in when it comes to grace can become a first step towards God.   And that’s why I like this song.

— 5 —

There was a meme going around on Facebook last week about “books that have stayed with you,” and one of the books that has been with me since I was twelve was Madeleine L’Engle’s A Ring of Endless Light.  It’s about a teenage girl whose grandfather is slowly dying of leukemia, and her family is with him for one final summer to say goodbye.  Her grandfather tells her at one point in the story, “God can take your anger, Vicki” – and that one sentence has shaped so much of my spiritual journey.  I have (almost) always understood that God can take my anger – that it is okay to be honest and forthright about how I feel – and so it has always seemed to me that if God can take my anger, than He can take just about anything else, too.  That doesn’t mean that I’m disrespectful ; He is holy, and reverence is appropriate.  But He is also God-with-us, and He gets it.  I don’t need to talk myself out of being ticked off before I discuss the situation or the issue with Him – He’s aware of how I feel anyway – and knows best how to get me to a better and more healthy perspective anyway.  (Thanks, Madeleine. )

— 6 —

In other news, the new Unwanteds book (Island of Legends) came out last week.  I spent four very happy evenings reading it this week, and it was amazing.  If you haven’t read any of the Unwanteds books yet, please believe me.  You want to.

— 7 —

And with that, I find myself out of things to say this week, so I will simply wish you a happy Friday, a restful weekend, and share the cheerful news that the new season of Once Upon A Time is now only seventeen days away.  (Not that I’m excited or anything.)

I do love a good story, tho!  🙂

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!