Links! - Lent and Saints and Poetry and, and, and . . . I dunno. Lots of stuff. This one is long, folks.

I missed momco3 over the last couple of months! But she's back with a blog entry about what she learned during Lent. Go read!

Here are a couple really good posts by Simcha Fisher about the saints and how to think about their often-imperfect lives. The first one ends with a tagline that almost speaks for itself, "I like the way he did it better than the way you don't," and the second one is labeled "For Some Reason Saints Act Like Human Beings." I like this part:

God is the light, and the saints are various types of lamps: Some produce a lovely glow; some produce a brilliant beam. Some make more heat; others are better for atmosphere. Some are for ballrooms, some are for bedsides, some are for keeping traffic orderly. The light inside is the same, but different styles show that light in different ways. A surgeon wouldn’t use a Tiffany lamp in the operating room—but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the Tiffany lamp. It’s just not the right one for that particular job.

I honestly think this is just as helpful an observation for Protestants as it is for Catholics, maybe even more so, as we tend to look more at the saints still alive with us than the ones who have gone ahead . . . and heavens knows, the behavior of the saints still alive can make you crazy sometimes. (Chief among them myself. Heh.) Anyway: great post, great thinking-through of the subject. Very helpful.

This entry starts slowly, but I love, love, love the end. Reminds me so much of Adam and me.

Apparently there's a Children's Poetry Laureate, and it's currently Mary Ann Hoberman, who wrote the wonderful "The Seven Silly Eaters" (current favorite storybook here at Casa Snell).

If I liked pink just a little bit more, I'd totally go for this needlepoint sampler. It's so cute!

"The less you have to give up, the easier it is," Kelly says in her post "Babies and Marriage". It's a neat meditation on having kids early in marriage, and the character growth that has to ensue.

My friend has a review of "Moulin Rouge" on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. I watched it about the same time he did - back in college - and remember it as both beautiful and disgusting. His review does a great job of explaining what's behind both of those impressions.

David Wilkerson (of "The Cross and the Switchblade" fame) died recently; Lars Walker has a tribute.

I thought the Duchess of Cambridge's dress on Friday was perfect, but I also loved this slide show of past royal wedding gowns, narrated by the curator of the collection.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell