Redeeming the Time
Frederica Mathewes-Green
The following was adapted from the author’s response to a talk by David Mills entitled “Cultivating the Catholic Imagination,” given at Touchstone’s 1996 conference, “In the World: The Gospel of the Resurrection in a Culture of Death.”
An early draft of David’s talk had a lengthy section dwelling on a Raymond Carver short story titled “The Small Good Things.” In this story a couple order a birthday cake for their son, Timmy, and then the child is struck by a car. Things seem all right for a few days, but then Timmy collapses at school and is taken to the hospital. The parents naturally are so caught up in all this that they forget to pick up the cake. The baker becomes irate over this—he’s finished the cake and hasn’t been paid, feels he’s been cheated—and begins leaving angry, anonymous phone messages for the parents, including the question, “Don’t you care about Timmy?”
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Frederica Mathewes-Green is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and a contributor to the Christian Millennial History Project multi-volume series. Her books include At the Corner of East and Now (Putnam), The Illumined Heart (Paraclete Press), and The Open Door: Entering the Sanctuary of Icons and Prayer (Paraclete Press). She lives in Linthicum, Maryland, with her husband Fr. Gregory, pastor of Holy Cross Orthodox Church. They have three children and three grandchildren.
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