The Second

Actions not speeches declare the content of a soul.   My actions, my way of life has followed a template, on balance, of the decent civilized man.   This is not to say that I am decent in any deep and moral sense.   Rather it means that I can check some boxes on a list of things associated with being civilized and decent.   I have worked in a respectable career—as our society counts respect; have earned money, by which to house my family; raised (or supported my wife’s raising of) civil children; funded some people in charitable work.   I think I’ve tried, and know I’ve fallen short, to do what Jesus and the Apostles taught.   But in the end, I see myself as having a basic civilized decency.   I have tried to repent of my secret sins and weaknesses; tried not to be a slave to my appetites, but with weak, inconsistent effort.   What, in short, is this way of life? If I have accomplished anything, about the best I can say is, I’ve fulfilled my f...

The last time I heard the word "husbandry" was about 20 years ago when asking my fellow sandwich maker at the university restaurant what he was studying.  He said, "Animal Husbandry."  My wonder at the coupling of "husband" with "animal" has not ceased, primarily by having planted an extremely important verb into my mind: "to husband" That idea alone blossomed into a rich image only slightly grasped in the following etymology given by the free on-line dictionary:     from Old Norse húsbóndi ‘master of a house,’     from hús ‘house’ + bóndi ‘occupier and tiller of the soil.’     The original sense of the verb was ‘till, cultivate.’ Granted, the verb “to husband” is never used.  Nevertheless this original concept of cultivating seems to be the key missing idea from today’s noun.  I can only speculate how this verb also happens to associate with marriage, but it would seem to be an ancient idea.  And this seemin...