The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning, but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life.
The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun, and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.
It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. (paragraph breaks added)
Source: Orthodoxy, GK Chesterton
Ever seen a rope being made?
Barbara – I have not. You?
I’m a traditionalist about knots — possibly the result of having learned more knots, more accurately, than anyone else in my Scout Troop way back when. So I have contempt for the owner of the speedboat who seems to have thrown his ropes together.
Jim T
Jim T – Good enough, p’raps.
Agree, Jim. My dad taught me knots, and it’s been a useful skill over the years. One skill my husband does NOT have. And Isabel, I’m surprised you haven’t made rope?? I’m sure we made rope at Upper Canada Village? and Louisburg? and probably Fort Edmonton? seems a popular activity at many historic villages. I’ll teach you next time we’re together!
Alison – OK, that’s a deal.
I learned ropes and have wondered ever since why that was part of the Scouting tradition. I have used perhaps three of them fairly often and would have to study to recall the others. Knitting stitches would have been more useful!
Laurna – It is not too late to learn those knitting stitches.