...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
I must consume the abundance of moments now. Days I am overwhelmed, wanting to write the music of my life in a slower tempo … yet this is the glorious dance of now.
So I shall dance in bare feet. For I am on holy ground.
~Ann Voskamp "A Holy Experience"
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
Love isn’t a function of communication so much as Love is a function of communion.
~ Ann Voskamp
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
I have long loved this poem by Luci Shaw, inspired by the prairie woman’s poignant words. Over a decade ago, my own mother sewed together stacks of carefully selected and cut fabrics in the shape of triangles. She sewed them between muslin triangles–three lap quilts, one for each of her children–and another for my father–while she spent hours at his side during his years battling cancer. She titled the quilts “Mountain Peaks” in reference to the many mountain climbs she and my father made at Glacier National Park. She said this season of cancer was their greatest climb. My conclusion is that finishing the “climb” of our own life with faith, hope, and love for God and others is the end goal of “the climb”.
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Carol, what a lovely way to “image” the scraps into wholeness and holiness! blessings, Emily
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“…the parts fitting together as if made for one another …coming together in harmony…. ”
For me, Emily, your lovely thoughts have a corollary to the Scripture accounts of what The Potter does in taking disparate, separate shards of broken pottery and recasting them into something that becomes whole, beautiful, useful — as was The Potter’s intended purpose when He molded it into existence.
I am reminded also of two examples of the brokenness that we see all around us today:
– The Church (entire Body of Christian believers) – a ‘QUILT’ in disrepair that needs mending. It has been infiltrated by the seductive ideologies of relativism, humanism, and syncretism — isms that are antithetical to New Testament teachings that are causing it to shred and to fall apart due to resulting infighting and loss of unity at a time in our history when we face almost insurmountable trials and dangers.
– As a society, we have fractured and spiraled into disarray those whom many consider ‘the other’ – a class/caste system that denies their equal humanity, blindly refuses to see their worth and their potential and, instead, rigidly defines them in terms of race, color, poverty, gender, educational attainment, among other damning labels. In doing so we fail to recognize their inherent status as God’s creation, equally loved and valued by Him. He does not differentiate among His Creation. ALL belong in The QUILT.
So then, what began as an idea in the Creator’s mind — as pieces of cloth chosen, cut, sewed together with love and pride — became one sanctified QUILT that will eventually become a lasting treasure until the fullness of His Kingdom is complete.
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exactly, Alice, you said it much better than I!
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