update from sparkleup

writing/sawtooth/limerent-object/discernment.md

@@ -30,21 +30,21 @@ If, at the end of time, faith and hope are to fade, there would be a final sense
 
 Dee shook his head to try to clear the clinging rumination, closing the book of Pauline commentaries and the notebook that he'd been attacking with a highlighter and pen.
 
-Standing from his rickety chair, he stretched toward the ceiling, claws brushing up against the off-white-towards-gray paint momentarily before he leaned to the side to stretch.
+Standing from his rickety chair, he stretched toward the ceiling, claws brushing up against the off-white-towards-gray paint momentarily before he leaned to the side to loosen muscles in his back.
 
 If there were any one place that Dee belonged, it was here. Here in one of the study rooms in the library. There were books here. There was the quiet contemplation of knowledge, the surety of faith, and the heady scent of aging paper.
 
 *And,* he mused. *Far fewer people.*
 
-He had five minutes until the library closed, which, he figured, was enough time for him to return the book and start the walk back to his apartment without needing to endure any encounters with the pages sweeping the stacks for lingering students. Sure enough, the only other person he encountered on his way out was the page who numbly accepted his book at the returns desk. A wordless exchange --- no small talk, not even a thank you.
+He had five minutes until the library closed, which, he figured, was enough time for him to return the book and start the walk back to his apartment without needing to endure any encounters with security sweeping the stacks for lingering students. Sure enough, the only other person he encountered on his way out was the page who numbly accepted his book at the returns desk. A wordless exchange; no small talk, not even a thank you.
 
 *Perfect.*
 
-The Minnesota air hung heavy around him. The air seemed as loath to relinquish the heat of day as the year was to give in to autumn, but now it was nearly eleven, and the long hours of evening had managed to pull some of the warmth. Mosquitoes drifted lazily beneath the trees, leading Dee to keep his ears canted back, lest they take interest.
+The Minnesota night hung heavy around him. The air seemed as loath to relinquish the heat of day as the year was to give in to autumn, but now it was nearly eleven, and the long hours of evening had managed to pull some of the warmth away. Mosquitoes drifted lazily beneath the trees, leading Dee to keep his ears canted back, lest they take interest.
 
 Saint John's Seminary was a lopsided circle nestled at the north edge of a narrow isthmus between two lakes, a marble set over a gap it couldn't hope to pass through. It would be easy enough for Dee to essentially walk straight north to his apartments along the road that bisected the campus, but he preferred to put off walking along a road as long as possible.
 
-Instead, he headed east from the library, walking bowered sidewalks for as long as he could. Past the utilities building, past the bookstore, until he hit the quad. Only then did he turn north, walking through close-cut grass instead of long the sidewalks.
+Instead, he headed east from the library, walking bowered sidewalks for as long as he could. Past the utilities building, past the bookstore, until he hit the quad. Only then did he turn north, walking through close-cut grass instead of along the sidewalks.
 
 Here, at last, he could look up and see the stars.
 
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ Dee, the awkward coyote. Dee, who forgot to smile sometimes, who always seemed t
 
 *...dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and ignorance. Grant me a penetrating mind to understand...*
 
-Was that not why he was here? Here at a seminary? To study and learn? To glean more from the word of God? To live in an ever more Christlike fashion? To help the downtrodden and the poor?
+Was that not why he was here, here at a seminary? To study and learn? To glean more from the word of God? To live in an ever more Christlike fashion? To help the downtrodden and the poor?
 
 Could he not best learn how to do so here? Was that not why he was here?
 
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ Other than the soft sounds of breathing and the barest hint of vulpine beneath t
 
 "I guess, but my doubt is in my vocation."
 
-"I see. Do you doubt in our Lord Jesus Christ?"
+"I see. Do you doubt in God?"
 
 "No, no. Just...I find myself doubting, uh...I find myself doubting my upcoming role in the Church."
 
@@ -131,9 +131,9 @@ Most of all, he realized he was not ready to admit to himself that not wanting t
 
 He didn't even feel ready for this prayer, for this call out to God. What iniquities faced him? He was privileged to be able to attend such a school as this. He was loved by God and the church. He was lucky to have been born with a mind so expansive, a body so healthy.
 
-Perhaps the iniquities were within. Perhaps it were something about himself, within himself, a core aspect of himself. Perhaps the privilege was undeserved. Just a coyote, right? Just a farmer, right? And yet here he was, languishing at a renowned seminary.
+Perhaps the iniquities were within. Perhaps it was something about himself, within himself, a core aspect of himself. Perhaps the privilege was undeserved. Just a coyote, right? Just a farmer, right? And yet here he was, languishing at a renowned seminary.
 
-*...I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the lord more than those who watch the morning, more than those who watch the morning.*
+*...I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch the morning, more than those who watch the morning.*
 
 And so he waited.