Introverts

 

Literacy in America

 

"Illiterate and semiliterate Americans are condemned not

only to poverty, but also to the powerlessness of

incomprehension. Knowing that they do not understand

the issues, and feeling prey to manipulative over-

simplifications, they do not trust the system of which they

are supposed to be the masters. They do not feel

themselves to be attractive participants in our republic,

and they often do not turn out to vote."

 

Give of Your Excess

Yesterday a wise reader wrote in to Ask Amy in the Chicago Tribune...

... Something valuable I learned is that you can only give of your excess. If you give to others from your essence (that which you need to keep yourself emotionally healthy), it will create a vacuum in your own life.

That vacuum will fill up with all kinds of negative things--resentment, frustration, substance abuse, etc. Giving to others is a beautiful and satisfying thing, but only if you can afford to give it.

-Learned the Hard Way

 

Saying No

 

Caught part of the Diane Rehm Show on NPR as I drove home from the gym today. She was interviewing Jane Fonda, whom I've grown to respect. She is a fine actress, and has lived an interesting life.

The interview centers around a newly released book by Fonda-- "Being a Teen: Everything Teen Girls & Boys Should Know about Relationships, Sex, Love, Health, Identity & More."

This particular excerpt really caught my attention:

 

(Jane Fonda)

I want you to use protection, so forth. If you can't talk that way, then you can't, you're not ready to have sex. If you don't trust the person you're with, it's not a good relationship. There should never be pressure or abuse or force. No is a complete sentence. I mean, we've got to keep saying this to our girls and boys.

No is a complete sentence.

Really.

Profound.

I'm going to use that; remember that; apply it.

 

The Wind is Not a River

(source)

 

The Wind is Not a River

Brian Payton

Some men have the great misfortune to stand at life's continental divide and see that the land beyond is barren. There is no hope of turning back. What does one do with this view?

It takes the rest of the day, but then the answer descends on him like a revelation. Easley's eyes open wide, he stands to greet its arrival. It is the phrase, the riddle he has been repeating like a prayer. It is, of course Tatiana.

The wind is not a river.

Her chain of islands that dares to separate the North Pacific from the Bering Sea. A chain through which the wind whips into some of the world's most fearsome storms. One minute it's a hurricane, the next a breeze. But rivers! Rivers flow throughout the seasons--under bright summer sun, plates of winter ice--morning, noon, and night. Wind rises up and fades away, but a river flows endlessly.

And our suffering? This too shall pass. The wind is not a river.

pg. 186

If John were with her now, he would hold her hand and tell her not to fill the void with fear. Be realistic, he'd say, but do not jump straight to catastrophic conclusions... There are enough hard facts to confront each day without letting our imaginations get the better of us--without letting worry drain our real lives away

pg. 264

Just posted a review of this wonderful novel on my First Paragraphs blog. Need to capture these quotes here, as they are a necessary reminder and a caution besides.

 

Real Love

... Love has to be tough and uncomfortable, and it has to sting if it's going to prove to be real and last for the long haul. Love that's too timid to ache isn't love at all.

Pg. 31

The Rook

by Steven James

 

Well said. A jewel hidden in the pages of an FBI procedural novel.

 

Not the popular culture's view of love, for sure. But in the midst of months and months of walking alongside encouraging, questionning, and challenging my brother, it's the love he needs. And, it's the only love I can offer.

 

I've grieved his circumstances. I'm angry at his choices and lethargy. I've exhausted myself emotionally, but the anger has helped me to regain the healthy emotional distance I need for the long haul.

 

I can pray, but I'm done with the advice. He's extremely intelligent. He remembers much. He's heard it all. Taking action is his downfall.

 

Surfing

 

 

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise

for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish.

And who knows whether you have not attained royalty

for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14)

 

 

Our family has had a summer of waves. Tsunamis. God is faithful. We're surviving. Thriving. I keep thinking, "For such a time as this."

 

We are each particularly gifted, shaped, polished, hewn for specific endeavors. It's amazing to see how each sibling, family member, steps up to the plate with just the perfect solution, action, wise words.

 

Our lives have been designed and cast for such a time as this. We only need to be willing and available. Then, let God do the directing. Our deeds and words are multiplied exponentially. It's the loaves and fishes story all over again and again.

 

It's absolutely shocking to hear what comes out of my mouth at times. Wisdom or solutions far, far beyond my grasp. Same for my sisters and other family.

 

We're each taxed far beyond anything we could ever have imagined. Yet, there's strength for each day. And, middle-of-the-night or early-morning answers to irresolvable issues and problems. Peaceful resolutions. Bounteous blessings. Disappearing mountains of concern, grief, fear.

 

We're not in the clear yet, but we will not be defeated. God shall prevail. And, our family will likewise. Amen. (Biblical for "so be it.") Selah. (Pause and think of that.)

 

Luke 6:37-42

[37] "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. [38] Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

 

Favorite Verse and Life Lessons

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29:11

 

 

Joe Stowell, today's Strength for the Journey...

I’ll be the first to admit that trusting in God’s providence is hard to do when it comes to difficult circumstances over which I have no control. God’s work is often behind-the-scenes, hidden from our view. He doesn’t give a play-by-play on everything He is doing to coordinate the details of His providential plans. In fact, often His work is most clearly seen in the rearview mirror. But I’ve looked back enough times to see and trust that my life is not a product of good or bad luck, or of random coincidences. It is divinely shaped and guided by the providential hand of God toward a wonderful conclusion.

So today, let’s choose to align our perspective and even our vocabulary with God’s. No more “luck” and no more “coincidences”! It won’t make for memorable movie quotes, but it will make for an infinitely more meaningful and biblically lived life!

 

How True!

 

http://www.juliasgreetings.blogspot.co.uk%2F&h=WAQFI3s70&s=1

 

SAILING TO CAPRI

Just included this book in my First Paragraph's blog reviews, and am determined to capture Elizabeth Adler's fine collection of quotes she uses to preface each section of Sailing to Capri and think this blog is the best place for that documentation. Food for thought.

No man is ever rich enough to buy back his past. 
OSCAR WILDE

The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.
OSCAR WILDE
The Importance of Being Earnest

Many a woman has a past, but I am told that she has at least a dozen and that they all fit.
OSCAR WILDE
Lady Windermere's Fan

The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden. It ends with Revelations.
OSCAR WILDE
A Woman of No Importance

All love, all liking, all delight
Lies drowned with us in endless night.
ROBERT MERRICK

Life is a foreign language: All men mispronounce it.
CHRISTOPHER MORLEY

We seldom confide in those who are better than ourselves.
ALBERT CAMUS

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
OSCAR WILDE
The Picture of Dorian Gray

We owe respect to the living; to the dead we only owe the truth.
VOLTAIRE

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
OSCAR WILDE
Lady Windermere's Fan

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.
OSCAR WILDE
The Importance of Being Earnest