“I heard an interview with Peter O’Toole. He had a new movie last year. In the film he quotes a Shakespearian sonnet. The interviewer asked him if he knew that sonnet by heart and he said “I know all of them my dear.” Apparently he keeps a book of the sonnets by his bed. It’s the last thing he reads at night and the first thing he does in the morning. He travels with the sonnets everywhere he goes. She picked a number at random and began to recite… “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…”
It’s a level of fine-tuning. I appreciate coffee. I appreciate music from my BOSE system. I don’t think I fully appreciate the Superbowl the way fans do. My aunt has followed Tony Dunge’s career for a long time. She can watch a play on the filed and say, “Oh, they didn’t do what Tony said to do.” She appreciates the game on a level that I can’t. The wine taster appreciates wine on a level that I never will. I hope some day to be able to tell the difference between gas fired maple syrup and syrup cooked over burning maple planks. I want to be that good at something.”
Check out the whole thing here.
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‘Appreciation’ is a rich concept. It has to do with color, taste, sound, subtlety, nuance–it’s a receptivity born of years of reception and wonder. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have such an appreciation of Scripture that we savored it like a connoisseur savors wine, swirling it, sniffing it, sipping it, enjoying being in its presence and engaging its subtlety and nuance? It makes me wonder what kind of finely-tuned teachers and spiritual directors we would become if we did so.
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
-Psalm 119:103
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