{Beauty | Personal}

"Let us jointly make such works of artistic beauty - small and large, simple and complex - that the world around us will pause for one moment and say, "Truly there must be a God, and He must be here."

 {For the Beauty of the Church}

{Up Ahead - Noteworthy Quotes | Personal}

{Taken at the Johnson Shut-Ins, Lesterville, MO}

"Ain't you thinkin' what's it gonna be like when we get there? Ain't you scared it won't be nice like we thought?"


"No," she said quickly. "No, I ain't. You can't do that. It's too much - livin' too many lives. Up ahead they's a thousand lives we might live, but when it comes, it'll only be one. If I go ahead on all of 'em, it's too much." 
{The Grapes of Wrath, Stienbeck} 



Live here, in this moment, because living in the future is too much unnecessary work. Live now, be all present in this moment, enjoy this moment, worry about this moment only.

Let Jesus carry the burdens of the future, because He is so much better at it. Live just this one life that is before you.


"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." {Matthew 11:28-30}

{Happiness - Noteworthy Quotes | Personal}

"What is the point of truth or beauty or knowledge when the anthrax bombs are popping all around you? People were ready to have even their appetites controlled then... we've gone on controlling since.


"It hasn't been very good for truth.. but it's been very good for happiness. One can't have something for nothing. Happiness has got to be paid for.


"You're paying for it, Mr. Watson - paying because you happen to be too much interested in beauty. I paid for it, because I happened to be too much interested in truth."


{never be willing to give up beauty for comfort; never sacrifice truth for safety.}


"What about self-denial then? If you had a God, you'd have a reason for self-denial. You'd have a reason for chastity." 


"But chastity means passion, chastity means *neurasthenia. And passion and neurasthenia mean instability. And instability means the end of civilization. You can't have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices."


"But God's the reason for everything noble and fine and heroic. If you had a God..."


"My dear young friend, " said Mustpha Mond, "civilization has absolutely no need of nobility or heroism.. In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunity for being noble or heroic. Conditions have got to be thoroughly unstable before the occasion can arise." 

"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness, I want sin." 

{when you eliminate all of the unstable, all the danger, you eliminate the need for God to come through.. and eliminate all the things that come from God... beauty, truth, freedom and true love.}


"What you need," the Savage went on, "is something with tears for a change. Nothing costs enough here." 


___________________________________________


{quotes from Brave New World, by Adolus Huxley}


{words in brackets are mine}

* neurasthenia

[noo͡r′əsthē′nē·ə]

Etymology: Gk, neuron + a + sthenos, without strength

1 an abnormal condition that often follows depression, characterized by nervous exhaustion and a vague functional fatigue.

2 (in psychiatry) a stage in the recovery from a schizophrenic experience during which the patient is listless and apparently unable to cope with routine activities and relationships. neurasthenic, adj.

Little things and a Big God

[A few thoughts from the book I just started reading, 'The Irresistible Revolution', by Shane Claiborne]

"We are surrounded by unbelieving activists and inactive believers. Where are the true Christians?" 

"We live in a world that has lost it's appreciation for the little things... a world that wants things bigger and bigger. We want to supersize our fries, sodas and church buildings. But amid all the supersizing  many of us feel God is doing something new, something small and subtle."

{both from the introduction to the book} 

I think the ironic thing about the above *very* true statement, is although we are supersizing everything else in our life, we have failed to realize how truly "supersized" our God is. We put Him in boxes, make Him smaller than He is... and routinely fail to believe that He is BIG. At the same time, when He tries to reach us through small things - whispers, creation, etc - we fail to realize that it is God because... "He's supposed to be BIG."  What an oxymoron!

Let's wake up and see God in the little things, but at the same time wake up to the fact that we've limited Him to those little things, and that He is bigger than our wildest dreams. Let's take up the banner of our King and become believing activists, know that our God can change the world.

Why I love Winter: Books

I love long stretches of *very* cold weather, when you have nothing else to do but chill with a whole pile of books from the library. Yes... lovely times. Very lovely. :-)

 {Yes, the National Geographic is mine... no. Curious George is not.}

 {In case you were wondering.... the Trial is a *very* good book. Read it.}

{My family likes books... this is probably less than a quarter of what we checked out that day}