Semicolons

This quote made me chuckle because I happen to be a semicolon addict. As in, I use em excessively, but like them with too great a passion to really do anything proactive about it.

"First rule: Do not use semicolons. There are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college." - Kurt Vonnegut A Man Without a Country (2005)

Burdens

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:29 ESV

He wants all my burdens. All of them. Not one left for myself but the yoke he wants to share with me. What grace.



Provision by Providence

"The story of Hagar and Ishmael came to mind while I was praying this morning, and I found great assurance in it. The story says that it is not only the father of a child who cares for its life, who protects its mother, and it says that even if the mother can't find a way to provide for it, or herself, provision will be made. At that level it is a story full of comfort.

Creativity and Work

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. 

We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” Ira Glass

Ira Glass is articulating something I've known in my head, but never seen communicated. It takes work to create the thing you mean to create. 

Y

More Like Christ

"God will not protect you from anything that makes you more like Christ." - Elizabeth Elliot

I love this quote. I love it because it means that God wants to give me real joy through holiness instead of shallow, empty happiness. I love it because it means that in season, sown suffering yields blessing. I love it because it means that as I become more Christ-like, I become more joy-filled. And all this is grace. 

Y

Waiting . . .

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all. Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.”  Oswald Chambers

Y

Good Gifts

"In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful; and the beautiful things that God makes are his gift to all alike." Harriet Beecher Stowe, as quoted in One Thousand Beautiful Things (1947),  p.17

Y

Worry

"Is something weighing heavily upon you today? . . . take it to your Father in prayer. Tell him what you think you need and what you long for him to do, and then thank him for the way in which he will answer. He will indeed answer, and even before you see what he provides, if you are willing to let him decide the outcome, you will find the peace of knowing that you trouble is in his all-wise hands. Real faith - the kind that brings peace - is faith that lets God choose the best answer for you." Trust: A Godly Woman's Adornment, Lydia Brownback, p.22

Y

Roses and Thorns

"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."

- Abe Lincoln.

Y

Divine Love

"Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love  would have put you there." Charles Spurgeon

Y

Faith

“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.”  - Oswald Chambers

Y

A Few Favorite Quotes

Quotes are just such lovely little synopses of life wisdom. They inspire; they give hope. 

For a reason I can't quite recall, I pulled up an old Word document I had made in college. It was composed of quotes from textbooks, philosophers, writers, bloggers, classmates. It was seventy-six pages long. Seventy-six. Clearly, I should have spent more time studying.