You know how sometimes you read a line or two in a book and your soul sorta raises its hand and hollers, YES! or quietly nods and whispers, yes. I have a few of those, collected over the years and returned-to once and again for hope or comfort or to get a swift kick in the pants. They are bookmarked or dog-eared or scribbled on little scraps of paper here and there. Thought it might be interesting to gather a few up and lay them out end to end - you and your soul are welcome to come along for the exercise. But only if you promise to add yours to the line-up. There are probably more than ten - and these may or may not be the top-ten, but here's ten to start:
1. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. - CS Lewis
2. If someone offers you an amazing opportunity but you're not sure can do it, say yes - then learn how to do it later. - Richard Branson
3. Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion. Ooh, said Susan. I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.... Safe? said Mr. Beaver... Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you... I'm longing to see him, said Peter, even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point. - CS Lewis - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
4. Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands. - John Steinbeck - East of Eden
5. Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about. - NT (Tom) Wright - Surprised by Hope
6. Bloom where you are planted. - Saint Francis de Sales
7. When I recognize that I have failed, I confess my failure and I say, this is my ordinary, my usual behavior; I do not know how to do anything else. If I have not failed, I give thanks to God and confess that success comes from Him. Brother Lawrence - The Practice of the Presence of God
8. I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world. - Saint Teresa of Calcutta - Mother Teresa
9. You are braver than you believe and smarter than you think. AA Milne - Winnie the Pooh
10. listen, you a wonder. you a city of a woman. you got a geography of your own. listen, somebody need a map to understand you. somebody need directions to move around you. listen,
woman, you not a noplace anonymous girl... - Lucille Clifton - what the mirror said
Note-able: The absence of scripture is intentional... that is a universe all unto itself and worthy of thousands of entries. Thus...
11. Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Frederick Lehman - The Love of God
So, there it is... some soul food for a Saturday. I predict more to come as slips of paper and turned-down pages are curated. A celebration of scraps. A celebration of words. A celebration of life. Selah
Comments