dual personalities

Tag: quotes

July 19, 2023

Every moment of happiness

by chuckofish

It’s Wednesday, so let’s all just take a moment to be thankful:

O MY GOD,

Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee
in ceaseless flow.
When I think upon and converse with thee
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.
I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it,
though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body thou hast given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.
I love thee above the powers of language
to express,
for what thou art to thy creatures.

Increase my love, O my God, through time
and eternity.

(“Praise and Thanksgiving” from The Valley of Vision, the Puritan prayer book)

And that said, it seems appropriate to read this from Willa Cather’s My Antonia.

3 Comments
July 13, 2023

“Keep your accounts on your thumb nail”*

by chuckofish

Yesterday was National Simplicity Day so here’s some Thoreau:

When it was proposed to me to go abroad, rub oft some rust, and better my condition in a worldly sense, I fear lest my life will lose some of its homeliness. If these fields and streams and woods, the phenomena of nature here, and the simple occupations of the inhabitants should cease to interest and inspire me, no culture or wealth would atone for the loss.—Henry David Thoreau, Journal, 11 March 1856

I concur. What do you think?

[The photo is Thoreau’s Cove in 1908. U.S. Library of Congress]

2 Comments
July 12, 2023

Out and about

by chuckofish

July is turning out to be a busier month than anticipated. We went to an actual 4th of July party last week and to a birthday party for an old friend.

Are people finally getting back in the swing of things post-COVID? I hope so. The OM is always reluctant to go anywhere, preferring to stay home, but then he has fun, even with a bunch of oldsters. I am the same way. (I keep forgetting that I am an old lady.) But it is good to get out and about.

The boy brought the wee twins over to frolic in the afternoon yesterday. The driveway had just been sealed, so we had to frolic inside, but that was fun too.

The twins were very excited that I gave them that old globe. They know an impressive array of countries and states (and state capitols).

I heard all about their trip. It sounded wonderful–they even had to get out of the water once when there was a shark sighting!

I had lunch with some old flyover institute friends and we talked treason…and

So we’ll live,
 And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
 At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news, and we’ll talk with them too—
 Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out—
 And take upon ’s the mystery of things,
 As if we were God’s spies. And we’ll wear out,
 In a walled prison, packs and sects of great ones
That ebb and flow by th’ moon.

That’s as good a plan as any. Hang in there with me. Keep reading Shakespeare.

5 Comments
March 30, 2023

More things of minor consequence

by chuckofish

“There is hardship in everything except eating pancakes.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)

I read this article about Welsh male voice choirs still singing and my heart was glad. I hope they can keep that Welsh torch lit for music. We have a lot of men in our PCA congregation and, praise Jesus, they all sing out throughout the service. It is indeed wonderful. (And such a change from the Episcopal churches I have belonged to.)

I liked this true story about Lyman Beecher’s prodigal son.

And Kevin DeYoung explains the fight of faith in this sad world.

Meanwhile the Christmas cactus is blooming again!

The big questions in life are not “Who am I?” The big question in life is “Whose am I?” You have got to answer that question. Whose are you? Whose are you? That’s the issue. In the twentieth century, we get all bent out of shape about self-identity and stuff. Who am I, and my worth, and my esteem, and my value, and all that — man. When you read the Bible, the huge issue is right relationship with God and to whom you belong, whose you are.

–John Piper

Whose are you?

3 Comments
March 3, 2023

Lord have mercy

by chuckofish

“Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies. But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He is apt to esteem others better than himself.”

–Jonathan Edwards

The painting is by Albrecht Dürer.

2 Comments
February 14, 2023

Tuesday mish-mosh

by chuckofish

So there is joy in our flyover state because the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. But we only watched Chris Stapleton sing the National Anthem because we love him and, I must say, he did a super job.

The only time I have ever cared about the NFL was when Kurt Warner played for the Rams back in the day. ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’ offense was fabulous and I loved those guys: Isaac Bruce, Marshall Falk, Aeneas Williams, and, of course, Kurt Warner. Therefore, instead of the Super Bowl, we watched American Underdog (2021) which tells the story of Kurt and Brenda Warner and his road from stock boy at the Hy-Vee to a two-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, and Hall of Fame quarterback.

It is an inspiring story and this film tells it well. I recommend this movie–I mean, who doesn’t love an inspiring sports story with a (spoiler alert) happy ending?

Fun fact: Considered the NFL’s greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He is also the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.

In other news, did you see that lightening struck Brazil’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue over the weekend?

(Photo from The Daily Mail)

Well, it did, and once again I ask, Are these the End Times?

Anne wrote a good one about the flailing (and failing) Church of England. “The most essential thing we should notice about Jesus this morning is how different he is from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby doesn’t have the power to heal all your diseases. But he has been given the gift of the Gospel which he could proclaim—it’s literally his main job—if he would trouble himself to discover what it is.”

And I enjoyed this article about the movie Ride the High Country (1962) and the Western genre in general. “The classic Western era was a distinct period in American film, establishing a genre with singular moral and artistic rules. These were stories about honor culture in the wilderness, a limbo space where rule of law was tenuous or nonexistent. Other critics have noted the difference in ethos between the old and new eras of Westerns, but Terry [Teachout] ‘s conservatism, and the erstwhile Christian faith of his childhood, gave him unique insight. The lawless world of Westerns, he noted, seemed to dramatize Dostoyevsky’s warning in The Brothers Karamazov that ‘If there is no God, then anything is permitted, even cannibalism.’”

Have a great Valentines day. “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)

3 Comments
February 9, 2023

Deep thoughts for Thursday

by chuckofish

We live in the valley of Elah, and daily, Goliath stomps into our terrified lives, shouting, “I defy you!” (1 Sam. 17:10) In God’s powerful name we must come to take our stand. Like David, we must say, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (v. 45 NIV). If we tremble in the face of Satan, it is never because Satan has grown large, but because our God has grown small.

–Calvin Miller, The Unchained Soul

This is a thoughtful piece about how people need a spiritual life and church. “As we continue to confront the despair pervading our society, we must seek to be the means of God’s grace toward those struggling with the threat of death. And as churches foremost—but also as political communities and society as a whole—we must help people find spiritual life.”

3 Comments
November 18, 2022

Dying of thirst

by chuckofish

Christ is my saviour. He is my life. He is everything to me in heaven and earth. Once while traveling in a sandy region I was tired and thirsty. Standing on the top of a mound I looked for water. The sight of a lake at a distance brought joy to me, for now I hoped to quench my thirst. I walked toward it for a long time, but I could never reach it. Afterwards I found out it was a mirage, only a mere appearance of water caused by the refracted rays of the sun. In reality there was none. In a like manner I was moving about the world in search of the water of life. The things of this world – wealth, position, honour and luxury – looked like a lake by drinking of whose waters I hoped to quench my spiritual thirst. But I could never find a drop of water to quench the thirst of my heart. I was dying of thirst. When my spiritual eyes were opened I saw the rivers of living water flowing from his pierced side. I drank of it and was satisfied. Thirst was no more. Ever since I have always drunk of that water of life, and have never been athirst in the sandy desert of this world. My heart is full of praise.

–Sadhu Sundar Singh

Oh-o-oh, sinner,

When you’re mingling with the crowd in Babylon—

Drinking the wine of Babylon—

Running with the women of Babylon—

You forget about God, and you laugh at Death.

Today you’ve got the strength of a bull in your neck

And the strength of a bear in your arms,

But some o’these days, some o’ these days,

You’ll have a hand-to-hand struggle with bony Death,

And Death is bound to win.

Young man, come away from Babylon,

That hell-border city of Babylon,

Leave the dancing and gambling of Babylon,

The wine and whiskey of Babylon,

The hot-mouthed women of Babylon;

Fall down on your knees,

And say in your heart:

“I will arise and go to my Father.”

–James Weldon Johnson, from “Prodigal Son”

Have a good weekend!

(The painting is “The Prodigal Son” by N.C. Wyeth)

3 Comments
November 10, 2022

Food for thought

by chuckofish

Have you entered the storehouses…which I reserve for times of trouble? (Job 38:22-23)

“Our trials are great opportunities, but all too often we simply see them as large obstacles. If only we would recognize every difficult situation as something God has chosen to prove His love for us, each obstacle would then become a place of shelter and rest, and a demonstration to others of His inexpressible power. If we could look for the signs of His glorious handiwork, then every cloud would indeed become a rainbow, and every difficult mountain path would be one of ascension, transformation, and glorification.

“If we would look at our past, most of us would realize that the times we endured the greatest stress and felt that every path was blocked were the very times our heavenly Father chose to do the kindest things for us and bestow His richest blessings.

“God’s most beautiful jewels are often delivered in rough packages by very difficult people, but within the package we will find the very treasures of the King’s palace and the Bridegroom’s love.”

–A. B. Simpson (1844-1919) quoted in Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

“Trust God’s Word and His power more than you trust your own feelings and experiences. Remember, your Rock is Christ, and it is the sea that ebbs and flows with the tides, not Him.”

–Samuel Rutherford (1600-61)

We hunger to be known and understood. We hunger to be loved. We hunger to be at peace inside our own skins. We hunger not just to be fed these things but, often without realizing it, we hunger to feed others these things because they too are starving for them. We hunger not just to be loved but to love, not just to be forgiven but to forgive, not just to be known and understood for all the good times and bad times that for better or worse have made us who we are, but to know and understand each other to the point of seeing that, in the last analysis, we all have the same good times and the same bad times, and that for that very reason there is no such thing in all the world as anyone who is really a stranger.

–Frederick Buechner, “The News of the Day”

The painting is by William Bradford, 1859

2 Comments
November 4, 2022

There is no other stream

by chuckofish

“Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.
“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.
“Then drink,” said the Lion.
“May I — could I — would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl.
…The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
…“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

Have a good weekend.

Friday Bonus: Here’s Chico Marx playing the piano in A Night at the Opera (1935) which I watched last night. It ought to put a smile on your face.

2 Comments