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
I saw a link to an article a week or two ago that indicated that 25% of adults didn’t read even one book in 2013. It made me curious to know my reading stats since I started keeping track of my reading on goodreads more than a year ago. Here are some of my stats.
The longest book I read was Pres. Monson’s biography, which was 588 pages. I loved 12 of the 71 books I read and only disliked one. I read 21,297 pages. 21,297!! How amazing is that!
Posts
WOW! That IS amazing! What an accomplishment! I need to read more... it is one of my goals for this year.
ReplyDeleteJust found you! So glad I did :) Look at all that SNOW int he above post.... holy moly..... it is BEAUTIFUL! I love those quiet nights covered in snow- at least I did (we live in AZ now :)
Eager to follow you!
Didn't you love President Monson's biography? It was long, but so readable. I'm curious as the to book you did't like...
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I totally did love Pres M's book. It made me respect him even more to realize how much and for how long he has served!!
ReplyDeleteThe book I didn't like was called "Finishing Well" and was by a very rich guy who was talking about how other people who have made a lot of money should do something different with the 2nd half of their life that's more meaningful than just making money. It kind of rubbed me wrong since we're still fully in the making ends meet stage and don't have the liberty of choosing something "more meaningful."