Double the Joy no. 64: Old Path, New Season
February 15th, 2025
Thank you for joining me on this journey of seeking joy where it may be found and as it is typically intertwined with our sorrows. A special welcome to those who are new subscribers.
A few weeks ago, when the stars aligned, I went for a hike on a familiar trail. The stars in this case: my day off (Friday), good weather, not being flat out exhausted, and being free from other pressing personal tasks or responsibilities related to my work as the “Stated Clerk” of Providence Presbytery (PCA). I love to hike, but the winter does not afford as many opportunities that are ideal.
I went to one of my favorite nearby trails, but instead of hiking it as I have always done in the past, I reversed direction. It’s a bit of a loop connected with some other trails. There is no right way, but I still tend to hike it from one direction. I am very much a creature of habit in many ways. Maybe you are too.
Two thoughts struck me as I hiked that pleasant and sunny January day in relation to joy:
Hiking out of season opened up new vistas. Gone were most of the greens and in were the grays and browns. But I could also see further into the horizon. My glimpse through the trees was not obstructed. There was beauty in the sparseness.
Hiking a different direction than typical provided a fresh perspective. I was less able to anticipate what I would see, though the trail was not completely unknown. One reason I like this trail is that it has a lot of variation in the terrain. And, on that day, I was able to experience the joy of the trail in a fresh way, by that simple change.
Perhaps this could be broadened to other experiences:
Doing something “out of season” may provide the joy of a new way of seeing.
A small variation in, an otherwise, familiar path may show you joy previously unseen or experienced.
Perhaps we miss out on some aspects of experiencing joy in our lives simply because we have worn a such rut in our habits and pathways, that we forget there are new ways to see and savor the world around us.
Just a thought. This is not in my proverbial “wheelhouse”, but I will try to remember. Habits and well-worn patterns have their place.
Reading Joy
Completed since I last wrote about books
I finished Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson, which is the third in the Longmire series. This contribution to the series shifts scenery from Wyoming to Philadelphia, as it centers on Sheriff Longmire’s daughter. One of the things I like about Johnson’s writing is how real it feels to the experiences of life in this world. Here’s a smidgen (that’s a fun word) of the main character’s (Walt Longmire) thoughts of his adult daughter.
I wondered if she ever had the time to see this picture-postcard view of her neighborhood. I worried about her walking home at night, but I worried about her brushing her teeth and breathing. Like most parents, I just worried.
Maybe that hit me with particular force, as we are a newly empty-nest. Both of our children live near by, but it is definitely a shift in our relationship with them.
I also finished the fourth installment of the Thursday Murder Club, which is group of British pensioners (octogenarians, perhaps) who find themselves in the midst of various mysteries. These are relatively light-hearted and filled with a rich assortment of characters. Richard Osman has quickly become one of my favorite authors for this kind of fare. The Last Devil Die was perhaps a bit more philosophical in some areas than I expected and I particularly appreciate the way he handled the topic of Alzheimers.
But, however much life teaches you that nothing lasts, it is still a shock when it disappears.
Finally, I read Mark Vroegop’s Waiting isn’t a Waste: The Surprising Comfort of Trusting God in the Uncertainties of Life. This was a very helpful guide for a very common experience. I typically don’t recommend books, especially fiction, but this one I do recommend without reservation.
Everyone waits.
I don’t think we do it very well.
The aim of this book is to help us take steps in learning to wait. My goal is to unpack this definition: Waiting on God is living on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.
Vroegop does this well and I suspect that I will return to this book, as I do with his book Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy (wrote briefly here about that book).
Annual Reading Goal: 7 of 52
On the Nightstand
Crying in H-Mart by … I don’t read a lot of memoir, but this one has really drawn me in. If you follow best-sellers or best of lists, you may have seen this one in the past year or so. I’ll have more to say, but this one is powerful in so many ways. This is the book I am most focused on, at present.
Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius: I couldn’t really tell you where or by who, but I felt like I saw a lot about this book recently. It is not exactly hot off the press. It was first published in 524. Not 1524. 524. So, by my math, I am 1501 years late to the party. I asked my brother-in-law about his thoughts, owing to his Ph.D in Philosophy and this was his response: “I love it! Sorta the last piece of ancient philosophy/ first of medieval in the west. Prose and poetry. Very cool, if you like those sorts of things!” I am slowly reading it, but enjoying is of far. Being a bit out of my comfort zone of what I normally read is good, I think.
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton: this one is interesting for a few reasons. 1) I have long been a fan of Chesterton (a Vanity Fair print of him hangs in our living room, something I should probably write about sometime). 2) I have read this book before. I very rarely re-read books, but I am making an exception for one of my favorite books. This particular version is annotated by Trevin Wax, so I suspect I will gain form this re-reading, for that reason alone.
Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised: In Brief (multiple authors). This is the third edition of this “authorized concise guide”, which covers the 12th edition of Robert’s Rules of Order. Does this make me a Presbyterian? Perhaps. Does it make me a nerd: absolutely.
Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West by Andrew Wilson. Slow going for me on this one, though that is not a reflection of its value or quality.
If there is any ADD in me, perhaps not as a diagnosed condition, it certainly shows up in my reading.
Adventures in Scripture
I have decided this year to read/listen to the Bible two times this year. My goal is to complete the New Testament in a month and then use the remaining five months for the Old Testament. I finished the New Testament with a few days to spare in January and I am into Exodus now.
It’s harder to memorize longer sections of Scripture than I hoped (and possibly anticipated). Still in Philippians 1 and may need to start again.
We are preaching through the book of Exodus, so there are a lot of commentaries or other resources that I am frequently reading or scanning.
Unique Reading Joy
Randy Greenwald has been one of this newsletter’s greatest cheerleaders and recently asked me to be a guest (along with Byron Borger of Hearts & Minds Bookstore) on his “Rainy Day Conversations around Greatheart’s Table” podcast. This was a first for me. It was a joy to share this conversation with two men I really appreciate and we are planning a followup to cover some more reading oriented ground. I will followup when the episodes are released, but I definitely recommend Randy’s work to you, regardless.
You can listen to Randy’s posts, as well as his Rainy Day Conversations on Spotify (also on Apple Podcasts & Google Podcasts).
That’s enough for today.
I look forward to the next time, in which we will strive for joy in the familiar and unfamiliar.
All typographical and grammatical errors are genuine and not assisted by AI.
Love it Adam. Learning to see an old path a new way.