Byron's Babbles

For 2026 I have chosen George MacDonald’s Diary of an Old Soul, Annotated Edition (2024) to guide my daily devotion and study time. MacDonald first self-published these poems (one for every day) in 1880. I have become a fan and student of George MacDonald because of my deep studies of C. S. Lewis. Lewis was deeply influenced by MacDonald at the age of 16 when he purchased a copy of Pantastes.

The edition of Diary of an Old Soul I am studying was expertly annotated by Dr. Timothy Larsen. I loved Larsen’s use of metaphor in the introduction, which was an incredible read in and of itself. Using metaphor, he said, “Your chosen path is the rocky bed of a stream that has temporarily gone dry. With each step you sweep past scores of stones – all of them ordinary, uninteresting, unworthy of your time.” Larsen then goes on to say, “Then a particular one catches your eye.” He was using this metaphor to cause us to think about poetry.

Larsen explained how every poem an author does, including MacDonald’s 365 in Diary of an Old Soul, will not necessarily jump out at us like the stone that catches our eye. Larsen explained this is not our fault nor the authors. Some poems will resonate with us and not others and visa versa. This reminded me also of how some musical artists songs really inspire us, but do not inspire others. This why there are so many songs on an album.

Then yesterday, when walking on the beach at Tybee Island, Georgia, I found myself walking in a bed of shells (see featured photo). They all looked unremarkable. All of the sudden, however, one jumped out at me. See the photo to the left. It caught my eye as beautiful and I took a photo of it.

There are so many lessons that can come from the stones and shells metaphors. First, it reminded us not to look at everything from a purely holistic viewpoint. We need to make sure we are looking for those individual pieces that inspire, motivate us, or cause us to pause and reflect deeply. Think about a book you are reading. Every chapter may not be exciting to you, but there may be those individual pebbles (pun intended) that jump out at you and inspire. A perfect example is how Larsen’s use of the bed of stone metaphor inspired this post.

Also, consider a conference you have recently participated in. Every session may not provide something for immediate use, but I’ll bet we can think of parts that we have copious notes from that we will immediately put to use. We need to be watching intently for those moments so we don’t miss the beautiful shell (again, pun intended).

It is all about how we show up. We must truly be present in every moment to find those gemstone moments that catch our eye and attention. As Larsen said, “The very act of attending to it deepens your admiration for it.” I am finding myself having to read MacDonald’s poems multiple times to fully understand the 1880 language they were written in. But I have been deeply moved to reflection by four of the six daily poems already. Are you staying alert for inspiration that may be right in front of you?