Five Things on Friday

It’s Friday! Here are five really fast things before I get to the real business of the day.

One

I used to love Grammarly because I’m really bad at spelling and grammar–I can’t even spell Grammarly without help from Grammarly–but I really loath it now because it gives me ratings and little smiley faces about my tone. Just now, typing this, the circle in the corner has gone red, and if I were to click on it, it would tell me that I’m being nasty. Whose idea was this? I don’t need to be judged about my writing WHILE I’M WRITING. The judgment comes later, when I have actually offended someone. This is a very bad turn of events.

Also, if you are irritated by my comma usage, it is because Grammarly hates how I use commas, and because I now hate Grammarly, I misuse them on purpose just to make the green circle go red. #sorrynotsorry

Two

Today is the feast day of Catherine of Sienna, whose mother, according to Wikipedia, gave birth to 22 children, only half of whom lived. Catherine was a twin, and her sister was given to a wet nurse, while she herself was nursed by her mother. Her sister died shortly thereafter, but Catherine grew up to be basically healthy. She continued to lose siblings, even grown-up ones, as she went on into adulthood and also dug in her heels about the idea of being married to any of the husbands of her dead sisters. She was born just before the Black Death. So anyway, this is not the worst time to be alive, no matter what I happen to say about it.

Three

I am busy plugging through a whole pile of books. I just finished Celebrities for Jesus, which I am going to review shortly, and am almost done with Wes Hill’s Spiritual Friendship. Also in the stack is Nate Collins’ All But Invisible, and Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx. You might be able to see a pattern. You can expect forthcoming articles on Spiritual Friendship and Platonic Marriage. I have very many thoughts jangling around, as you can imagine, with so much reading. I’m not going to hint at them here, though, for fear of spoiling the plot. I’m sure the suspense will be almost unbearable for you.

Four

I also did all my laundry–I’m not kidding, all of it–while listening to a Concise History of Spain by William and Carla Phillips. I’m really liking it. It’s got just enough detail to be exciting, but enough of a sweep to get a vague idea of how things have gone for the Spanish. But still, the Black Death, my goodness. I probably need to go back and listen to The Great Mortality again.

Five

Woke Preacher Clips has put up a bunch of bits of an interview Jen Hatmaker did with someone I hadn’t heard of before. Here is the intro:

Iso'd this bit with more commentary that couldn't fit in one Twitter clip

Jen Hatmaker Awakens To "The Feminine Divine"https://t.co/U8VaDWsboB https://t.co/jJWhRkLEs2

— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) April 29, 2022

I’m probably not going to be able to help it and will end up blogging about it all. My first thought, after watching not the whole interview, but just what’s clipped out on Twitter (thank you wokepreacherclips!!) is that I am so very grieved for Jen. She sounds like she is in grief, and probably has been for a while. The second thought is that it is a great tragedy that she got to be famous. This hasn’t been good for her, nor for all her fans. I read her funny blog post all those years ago that launched her into the limelight, and it was super fun. I totally kept reading for a while. But she should not have become a spiritual guru for women like her. I don’t know what God is doing, but I am praying today that he will have mercy on her and bring someone along into her life to tell her about the saving love of the Real Jesus, and not whatever god she is making up in this interview.

And now, my dears, I have to run along. May God keep you from believing foolish ideas today!