miscellany [ mis-uh-ley-nee], noun
1. a miscellaneous collection or group of various or somewhat unrelated items
2. a miscellaneous collection of literary compositions or pieces by several authors, dealing with various topics, assembled in a volume or book

This week two different but related articled caught my eye, both encouraging us to enjoy the good, the beautiful, the elegant, and the dignified...one of them in relation to our everyday lives, the other in relation to our worship.

How Much is Too Much?
Use Your Nice Things

And for a little of history and politics mixed together...Elder Justin (Pârvu) was born in rural Romania on February 10, 1919. He entered a monastery in 1936 and seminary in 1939. He served as a chaplain on the Eastern Front during World War II, from 1942-1944, but was imprisoned for political and religious reasons between 1948 and 1964. He lived as a monastic from 1966 until his death in 2013. His life and views were heavily influenced by the Communism under which he lived, ministered, and was imprisoned. In a 2009 interview, he offered the following evaluation of the world political system and the Christian's relation to it:

Therefore I say to you, trust that the Lord will give you power to confess Him. We live in an anarchic world, the entire political class is an enemy of Christ and a servant of evil, that is why even living our simple life without abdicating our Christian principles is a daily confession and martyrdom.