SPRING BREAK Journal: Monday, March 20, 2006

Yesterday I made some splendid discoveries. For one thing, I discovered, or re-discovered, the power and beauty of the Bible. That sentence seemed strange as I wrote it, because I’ve been reading the Bible almost daily for many years – but I guess I’ve been reading it in snippets, to gain some quick inspiration, and yesterday I was reminded of how authoritative the book is as a single, grand story. This came about because I purchased, online, an audio recording of the entire Bible, about 70 hours of listening for $36.00. It’s a considerable outlay of money, but already, after just one day, it appears to have been a prudent purchase. As soon as I downloaded it to my iPod (it took about 30 minutes), I immediately headed for the park and listened to the entire book of Ruth. As I strolled along the chilly walkways listening to the simple and touching narrative, I realized that I had never read the entire story of Ruth. I have heard for years about the beautiful tale of loyalty and love, but, until I purchased these recordings, I had never experienced the entire drama of it. It was a lovely half-hour. Walking along and listening to the fine reader, I felt like a storyteller was walking beside me, telling me this unadorned and very old story. Later in the day, I made another discovery, or re-discovery, when I prepared a complicated and quite rewarding dinner in the kitchen, from scratch. For many weeks (months?), I’ve been satisfied with either a sandwich from Subway for dinner, or a very simple home-cooked meal. However, yesterday I browned a breast of chicken in a pan, sautéed some onion rings and mushrooms, and then put it all in the oven to sputter and hiss for sixty minutes. I served it up to myself with sautéed asparagus and whole-grain rice, and was quite proud of myself as I slowly savored it. I can’t help but think the book of Ruth and baked chicken make two fine discoveries for a frosty March day.