…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 
Emily, you are beautiful. You look like someone with rich laughter, who can hold the tales of six generations in a coffee cup. Some people just LOOK like they have held life with humor and with tenderness. I love your face!
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What a wonderful reminder, Emily, of what ‘beauty’ REALLY is. Each wrinkle, each little imperfection, is like a road map of where we have been, evidence of how we have ‘weathered the storm’ of our life, what we have ‘done’ with that precious life.. When I see an elderly person with deeply wrinkled, gnarled hands for example, I try to imagine all that that person has done with them: the work that they did to support their family; the times that they physically cared for and consoled others in illness or as their life ebbed away, helping to ease their transition into eternity; the meals that they prepared and served to their families; the hours spent holding babies as they finally cease crying and fussing and fall into exhausted sleep; the heirlooms laboriously created in their workshop or sewed and passed on to grateful relatives and friends; the many times that they cooked a meal and brought it to a sick neighbor, or a needy family; the ‘worry lines’ that appear on our forehead and upper lip that often bespeak deep concern for a loved one who is suffering or who has taken a wrong path on their journey and is in peril; the times our fathers taught us to ride a bike, to bait a fish hook, to throw a perfect pitch; to hold us tightly in his arms when we were bullied or felt fear of the unknown; to stay in a job that he detested because he took seriously the need to support and care for his family…..
I could keep going with examples but each person has his and her own memories of loved ones’ wrinkles and inevitable signs of aging.
For me, they are precious memories, testament to a life unselfishly lived – always for others and not for self – or for what the ‘world’ tells us what miracle cosmetics we must buy and use on our bodies, or dangerous, expensive surgical interventions that purport to make us temporarily more beautiful, trying to hide or deny our natural life maturation and experience.
The point is, of course, that it is not the external façade that is important or that we will remember about a person. It is their unselfish, freely-given love and service to others – that compassion and understanding directed outward – that God sees and that must give Him great joy. This giving of ourselves comes easily to those we love and hold in esteem. It is difficult, almost impossible at times, to extend that same attitude toward those who are selfish and hurtful. Only Jesus’ indwelling Spirit within can help us to overcome that hurdle. So, we accept the challenge and do what must be done in His Name.
Thank you, Beautiful Woman, for your thoughts today – and for those spectacular photos that appropriately enhance your words – including the one of you and your life partner. The way that you are enfolding each other speaks for itself.
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Wonderful picture, thanks for sharing it.♥
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Beautiful! and Beautiful pic, TX for sharing all the beauty you are and capture.
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Such true words. Love the picture of you two.
Sent from my iPad
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I love your lovely smile as you lean into your man. Grace is beautiful!
Dee
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When I read this I thought about…Just last evening I was deadheading some flowers.
This morning I am unsubscribing from a bunch of websites.
I can’t keep up and don’t want to have such a full inbox.
But. you…I will keep on coming.
Thank you for your inspiration and encouragement via your words.
Linda
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no greater honor, Linda, than to survive the occasional “purge”! I do purges myself and it does help to hone in on what helps me start and finish my day. Thank you for this… blessings, Emily
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