What’s in a name?

As Ned Flanders would say, “we’ve had a diddly of a pickle” figuring out what to call this blog. The only thing we agreed on was that it had to be creative and not too obvious. Therefore, “Chris, Malinda & Ella” was nixed from the start. (So was “Williams Family”, “Life with Ella” and “The Williams Variety Hour”.) I’ve always wanted a band named “Mourning Wüd” and thought I’d ask Malinda’s permission to use it as our blog’s title. She said sure; it then dawned on me she didn’t have the foggiest idea what it meant. After another twenty-five minute lecture on more endocrinology, she promptly vetoed the title.

I’ve developed a fond appreciation for J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve read a lot about him; I’ve read “The Hobbit” and a number of his short works and poems. I’ve even listened to “The Silmarillion” on audio CD (I’d rather try withholding vital information from Jack Bauer than do that again). But I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read the “Lord of the Rings.” In my readings, I came across one of Tolkien’s all-time favorite poems. It’s an Olde English verse he translated from a very old manuscript entitled, Pearl. In it, he describes a dream in which a sincere seeker crosses a river entering paradise and beholds “streaming stars when stroth-men sleep.” The Old English Strođ means ‘marshy land, overgrown with brushwood. Stroþemen were ‘men of this world’, largely unaware of a higher plane. The Pearl-poet saw the inhabitants of Middle-earth as men sleeping in the wood, ignoring the stars. I like this metaphor. As a man of this world, it is often difficult to recognize celestial majesty through the brushwood. It becomes most detrimental however, when we stop looking for it. It’s a reminder that yes, we are consumed with day-to-day problems, chores and goals, but if we don’t look up we’re apt to get lost. King Benjamin said it best: “If ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith…even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.” (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 4:30)

Interestingly, and perhaps paradoxically, in Tolkien’s writings nothing is more exalted than trees and forests. Perhaps those who focus too much on the stars or the beyond, may miss a great deal of beauty in the present. This blog is mostly a record of the mundane thoughts and events of our present. (But don’t read too much into it—nothing’s more obnoxious than a literary snob.)