Specula.

According to the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, specula (plural of speculum) are 1) surgical instruments “used for dilating orifices…so as to facilitate examination ….”; 2) mirrors or reflectors “used for some scientific purpose”; 3) “a diagram or drawing” (obsolete); or 4) “a lustrous mark on the wings of certain birds.”

I propose to post various bits of my writing under the heading “Specula” in hopes that they might serve any or all of these purposes. They might variously: 1) help facilitate the examination of the subject matter; 2) offer a place for personal reflection (both mine and yours); 3) act like drawings in letting me sketch out ideas that suggest more than what the individual marks on the pages contain; and 4) be a little radiant, maybe even eye-catching, but only because they “reflect like mirrors the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Here are links to these specula:

“Take words with you and return to the Lord.
Say to Him: ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips’.” Hosea 14:2 (NIV)