January 2012 Quotes
Here are some quotes from my reading this month.
A nice reminder for those of us who seem to have busy lives from Nancy Leigh Demoss.
“Hurry is a pace of life that is seldom conducive to godliness, to relationships, to anything that ultimately matters to us.”
Convicting words from Sally Clarkson as I interact daily with my own children and students.
“Words have the ability to inspire or to depress; to make one happy and feel validated or to deplete and discourage. When we live with our children day after day, we either build an inheritance, a treasure chest of inspiration, confidence, validation, or memories of anger, criticism, while storing up in their souls hostility, insecurity, and bitterness.”
Something to think about from Jonathan Martin, Pastor of Renovatus Church in North Carolina.
“When we have such powerful tools at our disposal, making it possible for us to broadcast our every thought and whim to the world with such ease, the key to using media in our mission may lie as much in our restraint as in our creativity. Within a matter of seconds, I have the capability to share my opinion about any conceivable topic or issue with the world in a matter of seconds. But just because I can, doesn’t mean that I should.”
As I am trying to see more clearly this year, I liked these passages from Coffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk by Dale and Jonalyn Fincher
p. 32 “When we make a habit of seeing others not by their labels, but by their humanity, we give them a taste of God wooing them. They learn they are valuable for what they are, not for what they can do, nor what they believe; they understand that first premise of the gospel, “For God so loved the world,” this world teeming with frail and glorious humans. We’re inviting them to notice their humanity as we have noticed ours.”
p. 55 “Often we lash out at others because we feel threatened. We don’t particularly want to hurt them, but we fear that what they stand for might threaten us or the things we value. We fear that what they stand for might threaten us or the things we value. Frederick Buechner, reflecting on the words of John, says that while “perfect love cast out fear…fear casts out love, even God’s love.” We don’t lash out wen we feel safe. But when we are fearful, we often, without thinking, go on the attack. We need to double-check what’s going on in our souls and ask ourselves why we’re choking our love.”
p 106 “Or consider the times we do claim to love but smuggle in other motivations. In the name of love, we ask for other’s prayer requests promising to pray for other’s needs, but maybe we’re more eager to be first to know the news. We donate our money more because we want the surge of well being that comes from funding a missionary or youth event. We speak condescendingly toward someone or gossip about their parenting or marriage disguising it as “speaking the truth in love.” We hide behind Bible verses like, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths” to avoid the hard work of loving confrontation, which feels painful and negative. Fearing rejection, misunderstanding, and causing a scene, we fail to confess our hidden bitterness with the friends we claim to love. We often masquerade as loving people, but behind our masks we avoid plunging headlong into the grit of each other’s lives.”