From "Man's Search for Meaning"

"Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth...(it is) the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast." -Viktor Frankl

Hope, no longer deferred?

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

All who rage against you
will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
will be as nothing and perish.

Though you search for your enemies,
you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
will be as nothing at all.

For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.

----

'You're my servant, serving on my side.
I've picked you. I haven't dropped you.'
Don't panic. I'm with you.
There's no need to fear for I'm your God.
I'll give you strength. I'll help you.
I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.

Count on it: Everyone who had it in for you
will end up out in the cold—
real losers.
Those who worked against you
will end up empty-handed—
nothing to show for their lives.
When you go out looking for your old adversaries
you won't find them—
Not a trace of your old enemies,
not even a memory.
That's right. Because I, your God,
have a firm grip on you and I'm not letting go.
I'm telling you, 'Don't panic.
I'm right here to help you.'


--from Isaiah 41 (NIV, and The Message)

Quote o' the day...

We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

--Sir Winston Churchill

Quote o' the day

Bringing the government in to run Wall Street is like saying, "Dad burned the dinner, let's get the dog to cook." --PJ O'Rourke

Quotes of the day...

--I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

--If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life.

--A first rate soup is better than a second rate painting.

--We may define therapy as a search for value.

--He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail.

--What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.

--A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.

--If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up.


Abraham Maslow

Quote o' the day

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.

- - Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Yet another quote o' the day

What's up with that? Another one?

A life making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

-- George Bernard Shaw

Quote of the day

Do not be discouraged at your faults; bear with yourself in correcting them, as you would with your neighbor. Lay aside this ardor of mind, which exhausts your body, and leads you to commit errors. Accustom yourself gradually to carry prayer into all your daily occupations. Speak, move, work, in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be.

-- François Fénelon

Zoiks

Sis in hospital.
Kiddo heartbreak again.
Hubs tough times.

Praying as before.

"What the chewing locust left,
the gobbling locust ate;
What the gobbling locust left,
the munching locust ate;
What the munching locust left,
the chomping locust ate.

Between Sanctuary entrance and altar,
let the priests, God's servants, weep tears of repentance.
Let them intercede: "Have mercy, God, on your people!
Don't abandon your heritage to contempt.
Don't let the pagans take over and rule them
and sneer, 'And so where is this God of theirs?'

"I'll make up for the years of the locust,
the great locust devastation—
Locusts savage, locusts deadly,
fierce locusts, locusts of doom,
That great locust invasion
I sent your way.
You'll eat your fill of good food.
You'll be full of praises to your God,
The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.
Never again will my people be despised.
You'll know without question
that I'm in the thick of life with Israel,
That I'm your God, yes, your God,
the one and only real God.
Never again will my people be despised."

--snippets from the book of Joel, "The Message"

May it be so. I'm still waiting. I totally suck at waiting, but in my defense it has been a LONG LONG LONG time.

Wow, the hits just keep on coming

Guess there HAS to be something good out of all this madness. It has ratcheted up again, and I'm holding on. Just the right time to get this gem from Charles Spurgeon in my email box courtesy of Heartlight (it's public domain so you can go download it yourself to your heart's content)...

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."
-- Lamentations 3:21

"Memory is frequently the bond slave of despondency. Dispairing minds
call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and dilate upon
every gloomy feature in the present; thus memory, clothed in sackcloth,
presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall and wormwood. There is,
however, no necessity for this. Wisdom can readily transform memory
into an angel of comfort. That same recollection which in its left hand
brings so many gloomy omens, may be trained to bear in its right a
wealth of hopeful signs. She need not wear a crown of iron, she may
encircle her brow with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars. Thus
it was in Jeremiah's experience: in the previous verse memory had
brought him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul hath them still in
remembrance, and is humbled in me;" and now this same memory restored
him to life and comfort. "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I
hope." Like a two-edged sword, his memory first killed his pride with
one edge, and then slew his despair with the other. As a general
principle, if we would exercise our memories more wisely, we might, in
our very darkest distress, strike a match which would instantaneously
kindle the lamp of comfort. There is no need for God to create a new
thing upon the earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they
would prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light for
the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and the throne
of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime. Be it ours to
remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, and to rehearse his deeds of
grace. Let us open the volume of recollection which is so richly
illuminated with memorials of mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus
memory may be, as Coleridge calls it, "the bosom-spring of joy," and
when the Divine Comforter bends it to his service, it may be chief
among earthly comforters."

Quote of the day

People who make babies surrender their right to behave like them.
--Carolyn Hax

yet another quote o' the day...

ah, to aspire to this...I'd like to be considered this way...got quite a ways to go, but hey, maybe I'm a baby step or two closer...

But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
Job 23:10 (New International Version)

But he knows where I am and what I've done.
He can cross-examine me all he wants, and I'll pass the test
with honors.
Job 23:10 (The Message)

Not really a quote

But a paraphrase from Brian Houston of Hillsong, someone I don't usually listen to, but happened to swoop through briefly on the remote control "wow, there really isn't anything on" wanderings...(I think he's a little out there, but the quote seems very wise)

"Sometimes it doesn't seem like following God makes sense, but it is true wisdom to do so."

not a quote, but close enough for jazz ;-)

Quote of the day

“He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."

Job 23:10

Hope I can live up to that one.

Quote o' the day...

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

Quote o' the day

If it were not for hope, the heart would break.
-- Thomas Fuller

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
--Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)

Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick,
but a sudden good break can turn life around.
--Proverbs 13:12 (The Message)

"I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
--Mark 9:24b (NIV)

Please, Lord. Thank you for listening. Please help.

Quote o' the day

"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met."

Matthew 6:30-33 ("The Message")

Quote o' the Day

There's far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There's also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Receive and experience the amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, deep, deep within yourselves.

--various verses from "The Message", Philippians

Quote o' the day

Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.
William Davenant

quote of the day

He will dwell on high;
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;
Bread will be given him,
His water will be sure.

Isaiah 33:16