…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
Look for what you notice but no one else sees. ~Rick Rubin
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 
Yes, we are sojourners. The reality of that idea hits me often. In a very practical way: when I make a doctor’s or other appointment for months in advance, I think to myself, “I’m presuming that I’ll still be here to keep that appointment!”
I feel closer to “going home” now more than ever before. I’m trying to share things with my son and my grandchildren that, hopefully, they will remember when they get to that age when they begin to ask the really important questions. I send my grandchildren books with notations that they will know when it is time to read the books. I witness to my faith to strangers — in diners, stores, in my exercise class, wherever I feel receptivity in a person. Smiling at and meeting a person’s eyes will usually give me that tacit feedback. Another way of expressing this perhaps is to believe and be aware that it is always the work of the Holy Spirit that enables this mutuality to happen.
One place where I find it very difficult to witness to strangers is on the internet. Not being able to see a person’s eyes or to get feedback from their speech inflection or body language is risky. I had one very emotionally painful experience that has made me extremely cautious to do this. And even exercising this caution, it can take months to develop a trusting rapport.
The symbolism of Ash Wednesday, together with the beautiful prayers said during the rite, powerfully remind us that, indeed, we are on a journey that will end. The gift of our faith tells us that we always have been destined to be in our true eternal home in God’s loving presence — temporal bodies changed, journey completed.
Thank you, beautiful woman, for helping to bring these thoughts to my mind today.
P.S. Josh’s pics of the Washington mountains are mesmerizing. You are surrounded by so much natural beauty.
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Alice, you better not “go home” before I have a chance to meet you in the flesh in this world here. I am constantly amazed by what you write and who you are 🙂
Emily
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Thank you, Emily.
It is the Spirit within YOU that has stirred these thoughts in me. You have been a ‘doctor’ to my soul. The ‘meds’ that you use to treat me are everything that you use to flesh out your intimate messages — the pictures, the poetry and quotes — but, primarily, it is your wisdom, your comments and interpretations that emanate from your love of Christ, your love and appreciation of His beautiful creation, your life experience, your suffering. Your unique God-given gift is that you see and interpret with the eyes of your soul. That is so holy and so profound a gift, and you use it freely and wisely.
So, my dear sister in Christ, don’t you ever think that your blog does not touch people ‘out there.’ You DO reach people — hurting people, lonely people, and people who understand exactly what you are saying because you hit them where they live.
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