Another week has come and gone, so it’s time to ask what’s been lighting me up this week.
It was Federal election week here in Canada and the anxieties surrounding that certainly dominated the first half of the week. (I do long for the days when it didn’t feel like the fate of the world was depending on elections; probably a bit of unhelpful nostalgia but it’s true!) I was thankfully mostly able to keep my head on straight and focus on things far more in control, like the things that will appear below!
I’ve been plugging away at my series on the ‘Big Questions’ it’s important to ask to help us understand and apply the Scriptures well. It’s been a fun series for me so far. On another note in the faith and spirituality category, there was a French-language theology book I read while writing my Master’s thesis way back in 2006-7 that I loved, but it was never translated into English: Olivier Clément’s Sillons de Lumière (‘Furrows of Light’). Last month, I finally decided to bite the bullet and order in a copy and it arrived this week from France. My French reading is of reasonable quality but slow going, so I’ve been enjoying dipping my toes into it but look forward to really diving in when I can.
I mentioned last week that I’ve been in a habits and organization reassessment mode of late. Thankfully I’m really getting a lot of use out of my big purchases (as an ‘essentialist’ with minimalist tendencies, one of my greatest fears is big purchases with little pay off!). I picked up a few more organizational things this week and I’m really pleased with how things are shaping up. I’m also happy to report that my meal-prepping plan not only survived but thrived in its first week. I’m hopeful it will prove to be sustainable and I’ll end up wasting less food and be less prone to getting take-out in the coming months.
It’s been a good reading week in terms of volume, but underwhelming in terms of enjoyment. One read that rose above the crowd was Fishing for the Little Pike, by Juhani Karila (2019, transl. 2023), which was incredible weird but excellent.
Music-wise, I’ve definitely been loving the Self Esteem album I mentioned last week. It’s too soon to tell what will hit for this week’s releases, but so far I’m enjoying A6, the new album by Lights.
These are a few of the things that have been keeping me going and brightening up my way this week. So what’s lighting you up?
Matthew Root 