…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. … And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8 -9
What is my only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
~Heidelberg Catechism
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
~Mary Oliver
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.
~ T.S. Eliot
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To live is so startling, it leaves little room for other occupations.
~Emily Dickinson
I believe in God as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
~ C. S. Lewis
Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself but they are in darkness. This is also the case when people withdraw from God.
~ Augustine
Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.
~ Mary Oliver
The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope while darkness does its work.
~ Wendell Berry
Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in your humdrum routine the true poetry of life.~ Sir William Osler
But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
~George Eliot’s final sentence in Middlemarch
If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
~ E.B. White
Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here.~~ “The Wild Geese” Wendell Berry
Let it come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless, so let evening come.
~ Jane Kenyon from “Let Evening Come”
You can only come to the morning through the shadows.~ J.R.R. Tolkien
If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. ~ Thomas Merton
This life therefore is not righteousness,
but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet
what we shall be,
but we are growing toward it.
The process is not finished
but it is going on.
This is not the end
but it is the road.
~Martin Luther
Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.
~ Mary Oliver
It is not your love that sustains the marriage —
but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
She has done what she could…
~Mark 14:8
What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good on this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?~ J. R. R. Tolkien from The Hobbit
Barnstorming 
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, readings and inspirations. It has been a gift to me!
We have a rescued border collie who delights our heart and soul just about every minute of every day. And he smiles while he rolls around happily, like the dog in your photos. I assumed he was a BC and then noticed he is rather short legged. Is he/she a BC or something else?
Best wishes for a blessed new year from our family to yours.
Barb Pearson Wilbur Marmalade Studios 503.702.1090 itsawilbur.com
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Yes, it can be slowed down, and with sincere apologies to Uncle Albert, there’s no need to put the clock in a spaceship. Barnstorming proves it regularly, by slowing us down a bit and making us think, and pause to smell the roses– your beautiful pics our reward. Thank you, Dr. Gibson, for tending the garden so faithfully on our behalf. What can we do in return?
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Hi Barb, Homer is a purebred Cardigan Welsh Corgi (basically a border collie with half the leg). He is a clown and a joy. Thank you for reading and blessings back to you for a great 2015!
Emily
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Rob,
so glad I don’t need to test relativity to slow down the clock! thank you so much for your faithful responses — that is return enough for me!
Blessings,
Emily
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And to you, Emily. We’ll keep reading, and commenting. One slightly startling observation before New Year’s brunch: sometimes, it actually snows in Barnstorming’s “thoughts on” section. At least I think that’s what I just saw……might have been tiny angels dancing…maybe just spots…probably angels, though…Happy New Year!
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The snow is a WordPress holiday widget-thingy that goes away after today (at least I think it does), but it has been rather “spotty” this year, just like snow in our part of the world.
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You are so right, Emily – and so prophetic. Our new year 2015 may look squeaky clean as you suggest but it is far from that. We ARE dragging all of our unsolved problems with us into the new year (and have been doing so for decades). I believe that this is because we continue in our failure to trust in our Creator-God and His incarnate Son, Jesus, who walked among us and showed us the way millennia ago. As Americans, as Christian disciples, and as people who call their god by a different name, we know what needs to be done. We know that there is untold human suffering among our brothers and sisters – not just where we live in our neighborhoods and local communities but in a world that continues to shrink each day, making it impossible for us to plead ignorance of their plight. Among the suffering to which I refer:
– hate-filled racism and discrimination against any person for any reason;
– avoidance of the reality of the disturbing statistics citing the numbers of persons living in unbearable
degrading poverty and gut-shrinking hunger;
– homelessness – among unemployed persons, whole families,
veterans and wounded warriors returning from illegal wars perpetrated by corrupt American politicians
and waged against innocent peoples in our name.
The time has long since past when we must stand up and be counted, raise our voices and do whatever is within our power to do, individually and collectively, to alleviate and to end these inhumane conditions – in our own country and in developing nations – particularly where, in many instances, our collusion with corrupt indigenous governments perpetuates these conditions.
Yes, dear loving Emily, you — all of us — must dare to disturb our own comfortable universe and, further,
to continue to disturb others – regardless of the personal cost to us. As self-confessed followers of our Lord and Savior, the Incarnate God Jesus the Christ, we have no choice. He walked among the same peoples in His time. He was One with them.
CAN WE DO ANY LESS?
You, dear Emily, have the knowledge, the heart, and the words to continue to speak out. And you must continue to do that until you draw your last breath (as must we all).
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