This blog is not about mittens. That is, it isn't about the mittens most people think of when they see the word – those wonderfully warm and fuzzy things that keep my fingers from freezing during Michigan winters. This blog is actually about mittens, which happens to be my favorite word in the Latin language.
In Latin, mittens is a participle that can be translated as sending. While they are identical, the Latin word mittens is completely unrelated to the English word mittens. And that's the reason I like it. It's not a particularly exciting word on its own, but since I know the English word, it suddenly becomes kind of quirky. Or maybe that's just me – you've probably got to be a little quirky to have a favorite Latin word.
There's another reason that I've chosen mittens to be the name of this blog other than my like of the word, and that's its translation. I believe that I have been and am being sent. There are two things about sending that I think are important: one, in order to be sent, someone needs to be doing the sending, and two, I can't just be sent and leave it at that – I'm being sent somewhere for some purpose.
To do things backwards, I'll start with the second bit. I believe that I'm being sent to bring the kingdom of heaven – to bring shalom to earth. And first, I believe that I have been called to this kingdom- and shalom-bringing by God. He is sending me.
The reason behind this blog is simply for me to write on it. I am a writer, and I like to write. A blog seems like a good place to write more casually than my usual writings. I think it's a good way to think some thoughts and give the people whom I love and who love me a way to see what I'm up to and what's been on my mind lately, and hopefully also for them to respond and think with me (by way of the comments link below each post or by whatever's most comfortable).
Not everything I write here is going to be deep and philosophical (I did name this blog using a play on the word mittens, after all). I don't really know what this is going to look like. I've never had a blog before. Whatever I end up writing here, I hope that this will be a way for me to live out my sending – or to live out my mittens, as the case may be.
Peace and love,
Erin
Your musings on mittens: they made me think about about being sent, and why, and how true each of us is being to our own sending, and can we do it better (yes, but how). And, admittedly, they made me feel a bit proud of you (not the kind that goeth before a fall though, at least I hope not) and that's OK because dads are allowed. Hug the tiger for me.
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