Now may I speak . . . to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short. . . .
. . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . .
. . . This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us.~~Thomas Merton: No Man is an Island
October 1st
Don't try to dazzle everyone with how brilliant you are. Dazzle them with how brilliant the gospel is. Don't worry about the location of the lost tribes or the Three Nephites. Worry a little more about the location of your student, what's going on in his heart, what's going on in her soul, the hunger, sometimes near-desperate spiritual needs of our people. Teach them. And, above all, testify to them. love them. Bear your witness from the depths of your soul. It will be the most important thing you say to them in the entire hour, and it may save someone's spiritual life.
We come to expect God to accept our understanding of what his will ought to be and to help us fulfill that, instead of learning to see and accept his will in the real situations in which he places us daily. …The plain and simple truth is that his will is that he actually wills to send us each day, in the way of circumstances, places, people and problems. The trick is to learn to see that- not just in theory, or not just occasionally in a flash of insight granted by God’s grace, but every day. Each of us has no need to wonder about what God’s will must be for us; his will for us is clearly revealed in every situation of every day….The temptation is to overlook these things as God’s will. The temptation is to look beyond these things, precisely because they are so constant, so petty, so humdrum and routine, and to seek to discover instead some other and nobler “will of God” in the abstract that better fits our notion of what his will should be.[It is] the temptation faced by everyone who suddenly discovers that life is not what he expected it to be. The answer lies in understanding that it is these things- and these things alone, here and now, at this moment- that truly constitutes the will of God. The challenge lies in learning to accept this truth and act upon it, every moment of every day.
~~Walter Ciszek
Yesterday while I was at physical therapy (where I learned that if you don't do your exercises, your pain will come back) Rachel called to ask if they could put the garlands/lights on the porch railings in front. I of course said yes.
This morning they cleaned all of the surfaces that they could, and started putting out Christmas decorations.
Hallelujah indeed!
Posts
Way helpful! Dan used to be my Christmas helper... I miss that!
ReplyDeleteThat's one clean counter! I love how you foster independence in you kids- I need to do more of that- it would make all of our lives easier!
ReplyDeleteHow cool are you to let your kids decorate by themselves. I may hate Christmas decorating, but I'm way too anal to let someone else do it. I think I need a psychiatrist:)
ReplyDeleteMindy--I'll bet you do!
ReplyDeleteKatie--I like that. I'm "fostering independence." That sounds much better than the other way I was phrasing it. ;)
Amy--don't you want to foster independence??? ;)
It looks like your kids did a great job! Hannah has done much of our Christmas decorating this year. I would have stayed more grinchy if Bryan hadn't pulled out the boxes from storage one night and said 'let's just get it done'. =) I was all for leaving them in storage; our house is just so small and cluttery as is without adding more items to it!!
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't until the tree was up and my whatnot was 'dressed' that I started feeling glad for Christmas decor. I didn't think it could happen this year. =)