Seven Quick Takes the Second

One

It's kind of funny that last week I was all revved up about 7QT. I had just started my blog and was rubbing my hands together with satisfaction, because I knew I could easily be among the first few posters on Jennifer's links (because midnight in the US is 10.30 am in India), and would thus win many visitors to my blog AND BECOME A WORLDWIDE BLOGGING SENSATION.

And then... she figures out how to reverse the order of links, and declares it Procrastinator's Week! What! I'm a procrastinator! It's not fair!

I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Two

Have you ever heard of Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey? (Heavens, what a name!  Why wouldn't she have chosen 'Jessie Bell'- her REAL name?)

She's an author my sister recently discovered who writes a lot like Louisa May Alcott and Georgette Heyer. Her books are by no means high literature, they are very similar to each other, and you forget the plot pretty soon after reading the book.

And yet... her books seem so familiar, like crawling into your own bed on a cold night. (Don't ask me why I'm writing about cold nights when the temperatures in India are soaring.) She writes about girls, and big families. Maybe the heart of a girl hasn't significantly changed over the past 100 years. She talks about God and right and wrong and girls' faults in a very unsubtle way, and yet, at the end of her books I am inspired to be a better person. Such an unusual experience. :-)

Three

I think Jen came up with 7QT for people with minuscule attention spans. I feel the need to start each one with  'On a related note, ' or 'Speaking of...'. But I can't, because my mind has skipped on, merrily forgetting about what I was just talking about.

I know that short attention spans are the curse of the modern age, and are definitely related to the easy access of too much information at one time via the Internet. The thing is, I don't want to do away with the Internet. Plus, I can't really. Unless I was a superhero/super-villain who's mission was 'to destroy the internet'. Which would make a good movie, no?

So, readers, do you have any helpful hints about how to build focus and grow attention spans? It seems like a losing battle sometimes. And I don't even have the excuse of being a mother.

Four

So I was going to share some of my favourite (<---British spelling) blogs with you... and then I realized I had already put them in my sidebar. Do people actually notice those things? In case they don't, here's a really good writer who doesn't seem to update her blog very often, maybe because she's too busy living her life... and writing a book! Meet kassie. And read this blog post- Soup and Selling Out. Been there so many times.  By the grace of God, have responded differently... some of those times. Also, this one- Breakups and Bagels: The Day I Became a Feminist. I actually read it aloud to my sister the day I found her blog.

Five

Did you like Kassie's short and sweet and uncluttered blog name: kassie.? Coming up with a blog name is hard. You tend to think about other people's blog names, plus your own indecisiveness about the theme or focus of the blog, and come up with something like: 'Sipping Masala Chai and Ruminating about Life.' 'My Thoughts on Everything'. 'Random Musings about My Life'. 'A Little Bit of Everything'.

Here's a secret- I most likely wouldn't read a blog with any of those names. No offence to anyone whose blog names are eerily similar to my rejected options. I sympathize... but it doesn't work. Unless of course you don't care about people reading your blog. In which case, why don't you just have a REAL (offline,  made of real paper, pretty, cloth-bound) journal?

Six

You know, I often get annoyed when people say things like "God loves me! I got a parking spot just when I needed it!" Does that mean if you hadn't got the parking lot, God didn't love you? (And yes I know I get annoyed way too easily, and seem to be looking for a fight if I can take offence at such an innocent statement.) Yes, God gives us exactly what we want sometimes.... and sometimes He doesn't. Sometimes He says "Ah hah! What an awesome opportunity this is to grow my little girl's patience, not to mention allow her to lovingly offer up this small inconvenience for someone else's intentions.* I love her so much!"
Yup, God hasn't forgotten you, or gotten busy. Nor is He punishing you because He's in a vindictive mood. Sometimes He allows irritating people, inconvenient occurrences, bad weather, mosquitoes keeping you (me) up all night.... BECAUSE He loves you. We're supposed to say 'Thank You, Lord!' regardless.

Seven

Prayer request: Please pray for Jennifer Fulwiler's baby boy. He has breathing trouble, and they can't release him from the hospital yet. Please pray that he can be re-united to his Mama (and the rest of his family) soon.

I love seeing how Jennifer's blog has formed a community- people who encourage each other, pray for each other, and even send practical help in the form of donations when Jennifer was struggling the most.

Visit Grace's blog for this week's Quick Takes!

*Suffering is the currency of the Kingdom. Said someone. Google doesn't know, so how should I?