by emma | Oct 22, 2007 | Faith, Words
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
[ Prayer by Sir Francis Drake]
HT: Mark, via Andrew
by emma | Oct 7, 2007 | Words
It’s not enough to have a dream unless I’m willing to pursue it.
It’s not enough to know what’s right unless I’m strong enough to do it.
It’s not enough to join the crowd, to be acknowledged and accepted.
I must be true to my ideals, even if I’m excluded and rejected.
It’s not enough to learn the truth unless I also learn to live it.
It’s not enough to reach for love unless I care enough to give it.
[It’s Not Enough by Jace Chaffin, from the voice ]
by emma | Sep 25, 2007 | Faith, Words
“The truth is, we’re always a bit restles. We’re supposed to be. This is not a flaw in our faith, it is faith’s substance. It is a divine ruse to keep us from making permanent settlement this side of eternity…
When we recognise that our loneliness, our hunger, our weariness, our disappointment – that these are not final verdicts but only rumours of things unseen, it changes their meaning. It empties them of their power to defeat us. It fills them with an energy to spur us toward deeper hope.”
[The Rest Of God – Mark Buchanan]
I finished this book today (sitting in the blazing sunshine in Offshore drinking a coffee… it’s good!) and came across this gem of a passage as it draws to a close. When I read this, I suddenly went, “yes!” That’s me. Restlessness is ok, it leads to deeper dependancy on Abba, God. All the things I battle with, they lead depper into Abba. I am constantly being reminded how much all is required of us is to lift our eyes of ourselves and fix them on Jesus… he’ll do the rest.
by emma | Sep 21, 2007 | Words
Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels’
hierarchies? And even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
[Duino Elegies – Rainer Maria Rilke]
I am rediscovering how much I love the work of Rilke.
by emma | Sep 12, 2007 | Words
“‘Those who are limping are still walking”
A friend sent me that quote today in an email. I do believe I love it.
Limp on…
by emma | Sep 4, 2007 | Words
“Well, you know how it feels if you begin hoping for something that you want desperately badly; you almost fight against the hope because it is too good to be true; you’ve been disappointed so often before…”
[C.S. Lewis]
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