Author Tricia Goyer shared two pearls of wisdom with her son, a recent homeschool graduate:
1. “Cory you’ve worked hard and you’ve excelled in your studies, but for your future my advice is not to work harder. Or even to work smarter. But to abide in Christ. Even machines can be trained to do work, but only men and women - guided by the Holy Spirit - can bear fruit that lasts for eternity.”
….and….
2. “If at first you don’t succeed, go back and do it like your mother taught you.”
“Tune our hearts to sing your grace.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Twice this week I’ve heard the expression, “So many books, so little time!” All the more reason to be selective, wouldn’t you say? Life is too short to fill our minds with junk.
“That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.”
~ Amos Bronson Alcott“I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.” ~ E. M. Forster
“Choose an author as you choose a friend.”
~ Sir Christopher Wren“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
What books come to mind as you recall those that deeply impacted your life? Care to share?
“Cease to inquire whatever the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.” ~ Horace
“Be like the bird that, halting on its flight awhile on the boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.” ~ Victor Hugo
“I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” ~ Martin Luther
There’s nothing like a good quote at the right time:
“Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.” ~ Anne de Lenclos
“Kind words smooth all the paths of life and smiles makes burdens light, and uncomplaining friends can make a daytime out of night.” ~ Carrie Jacobs Bond
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems that you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” ~Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.” ~ St. Augustine
“The greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention to one another’s existence.” ~ Sue Atchley Ebaugh
As I perused my lovely Mother’s Day gifts this morning, each one reflected the specialness of the giver and warmed my heart. But more than gifts or praises, we mothers desire something more precious than store-bought sentiment - the gift of time. I love my children, but not for the gifts they bring. The gifts are a sweet representation of their love, but their presence in my life means more than I can describe.
On that thought, God nudges me. Is He trying to tell me something? After all, writers busy themselves with many a project, trying to honor Him with thoughtful, well-put words. In the process, we sometimes forget what He desires most. As much as words and stories bless His heart, He just wants us. If we but spend precious time with Him, the words will come.
A good week to concentrate on the Giver, and not so much the gifts. Let us honor God with all we write, but remember that good writing flows from a bountiful relationship with Him.
He is the Author and Perfector of our faith, amen?
