Whoa, being "on vacation" has really set me back a bit.... well here we go. I actually think the following passage is really good advice for the issue of bullying.
Ignoring a negative comment about yourself is a better remedy than becoming resentful and planning revenge. Contempt for injuries makes them vanish. If we become angry we tacitly admit the truth of the accusation. Fear of losing our good name is the result of not trusting its foundation -- a good life. Souls firmly anchored on Christian virtue can pay little attention to the torrent of a critical tongue.
Reputation is like a sign. It points to virtue. If your reputation is taken away by wagging tongues, don't be disturbed. Like a beard, it will grow out again. If God permits it to be taken from us, he will either give us a better one or help us with holy humility. -- Francis de Sales: The Devout Life
Near to the Heart of God: July 27
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Catching up on some Lewis quotes...
I'm catching up on some Lewis quotes that I'll just put in some short quotes that I liked. -- drs
The longer I looked into it the more I came to suspect that I was perceiving a universal law. ['One converses better when one does not say "Let us converse"'].
Every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice was made.
You can't get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.
-- The Business of Heaven; July 17
The infinite value of each human soul is not a Christian doctrine. God did not die for man because of some value He perceived in him. The value of each human soul considered simply in itself, out of relation to God, is zero. -- The Business of heaven; July 20 Yeah, that really isn't the stuff of our current, feel good, look for the goodness within, pop psych, nonsense.... -- drs
The longer I looked into it the more I came to suspect that I was perceiving a universal law. ['One converses better when one does not say "Let us converse"'].
Every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice was made.
You can't get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.
-- The Business of Heaven; July 17
The infinite value of each human soul is not a Christian doctrine. God did not die for man because of some value He perceived in him. The value of each human soul considered simply in itself, out of relation to God, is zero. -- The Business of heaven; July 20 Yeah, that really isn't the stuff of our current, feel good, look for the goodness within, pop psych, nonsense.... -- drs
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Vocation - perhaps Buechner's most famous quote
Yes, this may be Frederick Buechner's most famous quote. I was nice to see it in it's whole context. Whoa, I just checked the original in Wishful Thinking and Listening to Your Life has changed the original "cigarette ads" to "TV deodorant commercials"... kind of interesting. -- drs
It comes from the latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God.
There are different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest.
By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials [cigarette ads], the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren't helping your patients much either.
Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
It comes from the latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God.
There are different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest.
By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials [cigarette ads], the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren't helping your patients much either.
Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Goal of Maturity
If Christian maturity is maturity in our relation to Christ, then the clearer our vision of Christ, the more convinced we are that he is worthy of our commitment.... The truth is that there are many Jesuses on offer in the world's religous supermarkets, caricatures of the authentic Jesus. There is Jesus the ascetic, Jesus the clown of Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus the capitalist and Jesus the socialist, Jesus the founder of modern business, and Jesus the urban guerilla. All these images are defective; none of them is calculated to win our wholehearted allegiance.
Jesus Christ has double supremacy as head of the universe and head of the church. He is the Lord of both creations. When we see him thus, our place is on our faces, prostrate before him. Away, then, with our petty, puny, pygmy Jesuses! Away with our Jesus clowns and Jesus pop stars, our political messiahs and revolutionaries. If this is how we think of Christ, no wonder our immaturities persist. If only the veil could be taken from our eyes and we could see Jesus as he is in the fullness of his divine-human person of saving work. Then we would give him the honor that is due to his name, and we would grow into a mature relationship with him.
Through the Bible:Through the Year; p. 375
Jesus Christ has double supremacy as head of the universe and head of the church. He is the Lord of both creations. When we see him thus, our place is on our faces, prostrate before him. Away, then, with our petty, puny, pygmy Jesuses! Away with our Jesus clowns and Jesus pop stars, our political messiahs and revolutionaries. If this is how we think of Christ, no wonder our immaturities persist. If only the veil could be taken from our eyes and we could see Jesus as he is in the fullness of his divine-human person of saving work. Then we would give him the honor that is due to his name, and we would grow into a mature relationship with him.
Through the Bible:Through the Year; p. 375
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Time off.... Before You Eat
OK, not to rant or anything but I'm away from home this week and I'm trying to log into my account at my wonderful brother-in-law's place and it took me about 1/2 an hour to log in because I can never remember my correct password for one thing and I can't read those goofy squiggly letter password protectors for another.... grrrrrr. My BOL suggested I write about this frustrating experience and relate it to somehow getting into heaven...I'm sure there is some kind of humorous connection there somewhere. Also I picked up a Madeline L'Engle devotional for using in the future... probably a worthy successor to Buechner.
When you sit down to eat, pray: This is a wonderful mystery of your work, O Maker and Governor of the world. You sustain life with food! How great a thing it is that you sustain so many creatures. "The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing" (Psalm 145:15-16)
I ask you to continue life in my body through this food.
You are a liberal distributor of your gifts. You give us all kinds of good things to use. Because you are pure, the things you give are pure. Grant that I may not misuse them. Don't let what you have given for the preservation of my body become the poison of my soul.
The meat and drink before me is for my use and not for me to abuse. You have given them to help me and not to hurt me.
-- John Bradford: Daily Meditations
Near to the Heart of God: July 12
When you sit down to eat, pray: This is a wonderful mystery of your work, O Maker and Governor of the world. You sustain life with food! How great a thing it is that you sustain so many creatures. "The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing" (Psalm 145:15-16)
I ask you to continue life in my body through this food.
You are a liberal distributor of your gifts. You give us all kinds of good things to use. Because you are pure, the things you give are pure. Grant that I may not misuse them. Don't let what you have given for the preservation of my body become the poison of my soul.
The meat and drink before me is for my use and not for me to abuse. You have given them to help me and not to hurt me.
-- John Bradford: Daily Meditations
Near to the Heart of God: July 12
Monday, July 11, 2011
Who Do You Say That I Am?
Relevant Magazine is a really nice resource for keeping up with the Christian world of the 20-somethings. Their devotional resource is another one I take in every day.
Deeper Walk Devotionals
Today, popular thought holds that Jesus was simply a good man, a gifted teacher, or one of many prophets to grace the earth. Yet, as the commentator Matthew Henry aptly observed, "It is possible for men to have good thoughts of Christ, and yet not right ones, a high opinion of him, and yet not high enough."
Monday, July 11 Deeper Walk Devotional from Relevant Magazine
Deeper Walk Devotionals
Today, popular thought holds that Jesus was simply a good man, a gifted teacher, or one of many prophets to grace the earth. Yet, as the commentator Matthew Henry aptly observed, "It is possible for men to have good thoughts of Christ, and yet not right ones, a high opinion of him, and yet not high enough."
Monday, July 11 Deeper Walk Devotional from Relevant Magazine
Sunday, July 10, 2011
No Insurance against Heartbreak
This is one of those classic Lewis quotes about the risks of love.
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket -- safe, dark, motionless, airless -- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
The Business of Heaven; July 9, p. 176
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket -- safe, dark, motionless, airless -- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
The Business of Heaven; July 9, p. 176
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)