Food for thought from "The Life all around me by Ellen Foster" by Kaye Gibbons:
When I told her I needed to lie there and feel like dirt a few more minutes, she said, I know you do.
Laura asked for nothing but the honor of having a girl like me, to look after and hold her daily conversations and customs with.
You can't make people behave, she said, by force of will, and you should try harder not to panic when things feel a little out of place.
He stopped walking and blurted out, If you think you're better than people like Mrs. Thumb, can you try to hide it harder so I can have a good time?
Then Laura said, The truth is not so bad, Ellen, that you need to create a story and worry yourself with it.
I've pulled myself out of many blue days just by saying I must be all right, there must be something right about me, if a person this rare and good chose me.
Tuesday
Food for thought from "Fear Nothing" by Dean Koontz:
I believe in the possibility of miracles, but more to the point, I believe in our need for them.
One thing I love about people is their ability to be lifted so high by the smallest drafts of hope.
How strange this world is: Those things that we can so readily touch, those things so real to the senses . . . are far less real than things we cannot touch or taste or smell or see. Bicycles and the boys who ride them are less real than what we feel in our minds and hearts, less substantial than friendship and love and loneliness, all of which long outlast the world.
Sometimes there is no darker place than our own thoughts: the moonless midnight of the mind.
Because I was not expected to survive to adulthood, my parents raised me to play, to have fun, to indulge my sense of wonder, to live as much as possible without worry and without fear, to live in the moment with little concern for the future: in short, to trust in God and to believe that I, like everyone, am here for a purpose; to be as grateful for my limitations as for my talents and blessings, because both are part of a design beyond my comprehension.
Like all of us in this storm between birth and death, I can wreak no great changes on the world, only small changes for the better, I hope, in the lives of those I love, which means that to live I must care not about what I am but about what I can become, not about the past but about the future, not even so much about myself as about the bright circle of friends who provide the only light in which I am able to flourish.
I believe in the possibility of miracles, but more to the point, I believe in our need for them.
One thing I love about people is their ability to be lifted so high by the smallest drafts of hope.
How strange this world is: Those things that we can so readily touch, those things so real to the senses . . . are far less real than things we cannot touch or taste or smell or see. Bicycles and the boys who ride them are less real than what we feel in our minds and hearts, less substantial than friendship and love and loneliness, all of which long outlast the world.
Sometimes there is no darker place than our own thoughts: the moonless midnight of the mind.
Because I was not expected to survive to adulthood, my parents raised me to play, to have fun, to indulge my sense of wonder, to live as much as possible without worry and without fear, to live in the moment with little concern for the future: in short, to trust in God and to believe that I, like everyone, am here for a purpose; to be as grateful for my limitations as for my talents and blessings, because both are part of a design beyond my comprehension.
Like all of us in this storm between birth and death, I can wreak no great changes on the world, only small changes for the better, I hope, in the lives of those I love, which means that to live I must care not about what I am but about what I can become, not about the past but about the future, not even so much about myself as about the bright circle of friends who provide the only light in which I am able to flourish.
Saturday
Food for thought from "Fall on Your Knees" by Ann-Marie MacDonald:
Following the ocean a good part of the way, James discovered that there is nothing so congenial to lucid thought as a clear view of the sea.
And so, day after day, Materia slowly let her mind ebb away. Until she was ready to part with it once and for all.
Frances learns something in this moment that will allow her to survive and function for the rest of her life. She finds out that one thing can look like another. That the facts of a situation don't necessarily indicate anything about the truth of a situation . . . Some would simply say that Frances learned how to lie.
James has caught on: there is a God. There is a Devil - necessary evil. You may be cursed, but at least God has a plan for you . . . But now he knows there are no accidents, only tests.
But good taste is always in style. Truly, civilization is a thin veneer. For what have we to distinguish us from the beasts of the field? Besides, of course, an immortal soul? Manners, and suitable attire.
She is praying for them now . . . It slipped her mind in church, but there is no such thing as an inconvenient moment when it comes to prayer.
There is nothing left for him now except to die, but that will take a while because he is a creature of habit, and he has got into the habit of being alive.
And he doesn't deserve the truth - forgive me, Lord, only You know what we deserve.
Yes, she will confess this sin of pushing her father. But she knows now that no good act is ever unaccompanied by evil. That is what original sin has done to us. That is what makes us human. The necessity of sin itself is the cross we must bear.
I will work hard and get to all those places. I can see it stretching out, straight through to the triumphant end. I hate it when I can see through to the end of something. All that's left is the plodding to get there.
But what has she to be sorry for? A body doesn't need a reason to feel sorry. Sorry is a free-floating commmodity.
Following the ocean a good part of the way, James discovered that there is nothing so congenial to lucid thought as a clear view of the sea.
And so, day after day, Materia slowly let her mind ebb away. Until she was ready to part with it once and for all.
Frances learns something in this moment that will allow her to survive and function for the rest of her life. She finds out that one thing can look like another. That the facts of a situation don't necessarily indicate anything about the truth of a situation . . . Some would simply say that Frances learned how to lie.
James has caught on: there is a God. There is a Devil - necessary evil. You may be cursed, but at least God has a plan for you . . . But now he knows there are no accidents, only tests.
But good taste is always in style. Truly, civilization is a thin veneer. For what have we to distinguish us from the beasts of the field? Besides, of course, an immortal soul? Manners, and suitable attire.
She is praying for them now . . . It slipped her mind in church, but there is no such thing as an inconvenient moment when it comes to prayer.
There is nothing left for him now except to die, but that will take a while because he is a creature of habit, and he has got into the habit of being alive.
And he doesn't deserve the truth - forgive me, Lord, only You know what we deserve.
Yes, she will confess this sin of pushing her father. But she knows now that no good act is ever unaccompanied by evil. That is what original sin has done to us. That is what makes us human. The necessity of sin itself is the cross we must bear.
I will work hard and get to all those places. I can see it stretching out, straight through to the triumphant end. I hate it when I can see through to the end of something. All that's left is the plodding to get there.
But what has she to be sorry for? A body doesn't need a reason to feel sorry. Sorry is a free-floating commmodity.
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Friday
Food for thought from "That Voice Behind You"
by Charles G. Coleman:
... the purpose of divine guidance is not to help you do what you want, but what God wants ... what God wants is also best for you.
Each daily experience becomes a part of God's plan to fit [Christians] for their mission here on earth, and their role in the life to come.
... God is working in your life through His guidance to form you into the likeness of Jesus Christ. The more you allow Him to work in you, the quicker and more complete will be the molding process, and the more satisfying your companionship with Him.
Since God wants to fill you with His Spirit, you can trust Him to fill you if your commit your life to Him and seek the spiritual fulfillment He has for you. Total commitment is the important prerequisite.
Renew your mind each day by prayer and study of God's work.
Life's hardest battles are those you will face within yourself as you determine to learn, on a daily basis, how to let His Spirit rule in your life.
What God wants to develop in you is a daily, harmonious collaboration in which every bit of your human capability to think, plan, and decide is used in a spirit of faith and dependence on Him.
Prayer is more important to your life ... than we may realize ... consistent prayer will keep the channel of communication between you and God clear for the flow of His guidance into your life.
I believe we should put more emphasis on being a witness than on doing witnessing ... what you are will be more important to your non-Christian friends than what you say.
If you are yielded to God, the Holy Spirit can bring you into direct contact with those for whom your personal witness can be most effective.
by Charles G. Coleman:
... the purpose of divine guidance is not to help you do what you want, but what God wants ... what God wants is also best for you.
Each daily experience becomes a part of God's plan to fit [Christians] for their mission here on earth, and their role in the life to come.
... God is working in your life through His guidance to form you into the likeness of Jesus Christ. The more you allow Him to work in you, the quicker and more complete will be the molding process, and the more satisfying your companionship with Him.
Since God wants to fill you with His Spirit, you can trust Him to fill you if your commit your life to Him and seek the spiritual fulfillment He has for you. Total commitment is the important prerequisite.
Renew your mind each day by prayer and study of God's work.
Life's hardest battles are those you will face within yourself as you determine to learn, on a daily basis, how to let His Spirit rule in your life.
What God wants to develop in you is a daily, harmonious collaboration in which every bit of your human capability to think, plan, and decide is used in a spirit of faith and dependence on Him.
Prayer is more important to your life ... than we may realize ... consistent prayer will keep the channel of communication between you and God clear for the flow of His guidance into your life.
I believe we should put more emphasis on being a witness than on doing witnessing ... what you are will be more important to your non-Christian friends than what you say.
If you are yielded to God, the Holy Spirit can bring you into direct contact with those for whom your personal witness can be most effective.
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