If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts.  God's purpose is not simply to make us beautiful plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us.
~Oswald Chambers

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Quote

Truth crushed to earth will rise again because no lie can live forever.

~Ben Stein - Expelled No Intelligence Allowed

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Quote - Oswald Chambers

"I will never leave thee of forsake thee."  Hebrews 13:5

If we have God's assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life.

~Oswald Chambers

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Quote of the Day

God is still working--let's never forget that. What we can see of our circumstances is not all that is there. Whether we are single or married, God is working to glorify Himself through those circumstances, and only He knows the best way to accomplish His plans. At any given time, we can't see the grand panorama of His grace. But, secure in the reality of it, we can rest in the promise that still echoes across time: "'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.' ...I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it." (Isaiah 46:10-11)
- Carolyn McCulley, excerpt from Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye?

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Love

God has called us to be lovers and we frequently think that He meant us to be saviors. So we "love" as long as we see "results." We give of ourselves as long as our investments pay off, but if the ones we love do not respond, we tend to despair and blame ourselves and even resent those we pretend to love. Because we love someone, we want them to be free of addictions, of sin, of self--and that is as it should be. But it might be that our love for them and our desire for their well-being will not make them well. And, if that is the case, their lack of response no more negates the reality of love than their quickness to respond to love would confirm it.

Love is a virtue and not a feeling. It is fed and fired by God--not by the favorable response of the beloved. Even when it doesn't seem to make a dime's worth of difference to the ones on whom it is lavished, it is still the most prized of all virtues because it is at the heart of the very character of God. By loving we participate in His Life and Essence. When we stoop to bait and buy good behavior we are no longer loving as God loves. We are manipulating and cheapening the dignity of the person whom we are called--not to save, not even to change--but to love. If real salvation is possible (and we know it is) it is because real love is there. And love that is real, love that is truly a virtue and not an act--agape love--gushes from God through those who knows Him. It is not strung along by those who don't.

- Rich Mullins, Excerpt from The World As I Remember It: Through the Eyes of a Ragamuffin

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A quote

[This was supposed to be for Wednesday, but it didn't get posted. Sorry about that!]

"The man folks hung on a cross, He said He was the Way, remember? The Way, and the Truth, and the Light....I think, maybe, He would say that truth is rooted in love-that no word is true that isn't spoken in love, and no act is just that isn't carried out in love."

Rebecca Caudill, The Far-off Land

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Buttercup Days

I think a good portion of my summer reading is going to be spent in poetry and stories about Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh. The original stuff by A.A. Milne, of course. And recently, while photographing buttercups in the backyward, I thought of a little girl named Anne and Buttercups...

Buttercup Days
Where is Anne?
Head above the buttercups,
Walking by the stream,
Down among the buttercups.
Where is Anne?
Walking with her man,
Lost in a dream,
Lost among the buttercups.

What has she got in that little brown head?
Wonderful thoughts which can never be said.
What has she got in that firm little fist of hers?
Somebody’s thumb, and it feels like Christopher’s

Where is Anne?
Close to her man.
Brown head, gold head,
In and out the buttercups.
- A.A. Milne, "Now We Are Six"

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