Tension

Today I woke up, grabbed my coffee, and wanted to work on my next post about Crime and Punishment. Before I could begin writing, I logged into a couple of the platforms where I share my content. The first thing I see are graphs showing how people are engaging with my posts. It showed several of my posts have not been viewed at all, which started to create uncomfortable feelings.

Instead of focusing on the feelings, I began to ask myself several questions. What am I feeling? I am feeling sad, anxious, and down. Why am I feeling this way? Because people are not engaging with my content, thus my content must not be good. What does this say about me? I’m not good enough. Now I am feeling even more depressed. Then something reminded me of a past post.

This post said that being human means we get off course at times, and how we need reminders to help us change our headings. New questions started to form in my mind. Why did you start posting this content? To share what I enjoy and learn from older books. What is the main purpose of these platforms you are using? At the core, to make money. And because they make money through attention, engagement becomes important to them. This helped me remember that when the aims are different, they lead down different paths. My core intent is to post truth, so my aim will lead me somewhere different, and it’s a place not everyone wants to go.

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Truth vs Fear

Fear focuses on the giants.

Truth remembers the whole landscape.

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Humility

Humility is often mistaken for thinking less of yourself.

But perhaps humility isn’t about thinking less of yourself at all.

Perhaps it is about seeing reality clearly.

The proud person says:

“I’m more important than I am.”

The ashamed person says:

“I’m less important than I am.”

Humility stands in the middle and says:

“I am who I am.”

No exaggeration.

No dismissal.

Just truth.

When we see ourselves clearly, we no longer need to elevate ourselves above others.

Nor do we need to diminish ourselves beneath them.

We are simply free to be who we are.

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Sabbath Saturday

We often think our attention stays inside our own minds.

It doesn’t.

A frustration revisited often enough can become resentment.

A fear fed continually can become anxiety.

Yet the opposite is true as well.

Gratitude grows when it is noticed.

Beauty grows when it is observed.

Peace grows when it is protected.

What we repeatedly pay attention to tends to spread.

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Friday Walden Post

In the next chapter titled Visitors, people came to Thoreau carrying different things. Some brought fear. Some sought companionship. Some came out of curiosity, need, freedom, or simple enjoyment.

What struck me most was how carefully Thoreau observed them. He seemed interested not only in who they were, but in what brought them to his door.

Yet the chapter wasn’t only about the visitors. Thoreau was wrestling with his own judgments as well.

He wanted the woodchopper to awaken to deeper intellectual and spiritual questions, yet he also admired the man’s simplicity and contentment. He saw both a lack and a wisdom.

Perhaps the marrow of the chapter lies in that tension.

There is meaning to be found in life, but we don’t need to force meaning into everything. There is value in seeking deeper understanding, but there is also wisdom in simply being present to what is before us.

Sometimes maturity is knowing when to dig deeper, and when to appreciate the simplicity already in front of us.

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Wednesday Slow Thought

Many of us struggle when life asks us to enter a new season.

We fear that if we can no longer do what we once did, then perhaps we no longer matter.

Many ancient civilizations knew this concept. In the Bible, the Levites were not discarded from serving at 50 years old, their responsibilities changed.

They stopped carrying the burden, but they continued serving the people.

Perhaps faithfulness is not holding on to the same role forever.

Perhaps faithfulness is learning when to step into the next one.

A changing season does not diminish your worth.

It may simply be preparing you for a different way to contribute.

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Monday Marrow

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A Time to Rest

The world teaches us to keep striving for more: more wealth, more recognition, more accomplishment. Ancient wisdom points in a different direction. It reminds us of the importance of pausing, resting, and renewing ourselves. This proverb speaks not only of physical rest, but of mental rest as well. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give ourselves is permission to stop striving and simply be.

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Hope

For a long time, fear felt like the entire sky. Lately, I’ve begun noticing rays of light breaking through the clouds. The storm may still be present, but it is no longer all I can see.

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When a Thought Begins to Take Hold

Today, I once again found myself stepping into Raskolnikov’s world. Chapter 5 felt less like a story and more like a battle taking place inside his mind. One phrase that immediately caught my attention was Dostoevsky’s description of Raskolnikov searching for a “sinister significance” in his thoughts. It made me wonder if he was no longer simply thinking, but actively looking for a deeper meaning in the dark ideas he was wrestling with.

Another detail that stood out was the repeated use of the word “It.” The word is capitalized, almost as though it has become a name. Whatever “It” is, it is no longer just a passing thought. It has become something larger, something that occupies space in Raskolnikov’s mind.

Throughout the chapter, he seems trapped between wanting to escape “It” and being strangely drawn back to it. Dostoevsky describes an inner craving and turmoil that leaves Raskolnikov restless and unsettled. He appears unable to find peace because he cannot stop returning to the very thing that troubles him.

For a brief moment, nature seems to provide relief. As Raskolnikov leaves the city, the countryside becomes restful to his eyes. Yet that peace quickly fades. The turmoil within him proves stronger than the quiet beauty around him. The problem is not outside of him. The struggle is taking place within.

The chapter reaches its most disturbing moment in a dream about a horse. The dream is filled with violence, suffering, and helplessness. What struck me was not just what happened in the dream, but what it revealed about Raskolnikov himself. Beneath his bitterness and confusion, there still seems to be compassion. The dream exposes parts of his soul that his waking thoughts often conceal.

By the end of the chapter, Dostoevsky describes darkness and confusion within Raskolnikov’s soul. Even when he briefly experiences freedom from his troubling thoughts, the relief never lasts. The thought keeps returning.

As I reflected on this chapter, I couldn’t help but think about how powerful a single thought can become when we continually return to it. At some point, the question is no longer whether we have the thought, but whether the thought has us.

Perhaps the battle for our actions begins long before any action is ever taken.

I’d like to leave you with a question:

What happens when a thought stops being something we think and becomes a force that begins to think for us?

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