5th Sentence Inspiration
A fellow blogger and friend, Janelle Stoltzfus, has tagged me and here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 more people
I chose one of my top 5 favorite books, "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard. It is not an easy read. It is a book that demands all of your attention in order to absorb it and yet the truths are simple, profound. I am on my third reading (in 5 years!). Here is the excerpt (and a little beyond the third sentence, because it was not right to leave you without the accompanying thoughts):
That last sentence is the one that sticks out most to me. I love it. I do not always live it or think it or view myself or the man or woman behind the McDonald's drive-thru microphone like it, but I desperately want to. We have something in common with everyone, no matter how we appear--we are individually, uniquely and purposefully RIOTOUSLY CELEBRATED (nothing obligatory about those two words!!!) in the reality that God has created for us here on Earth, and that reality extends right on into Heaven. We share an unseen reality with Heaven right now! Doesn't that thought make Heaven seem so wonderfully close? I imagine my grandfather's up there (and my children) with their smiling eyes saying to each other "If she only knew what she had right were she is at...and how close she is, Jeane` would be estatic." And since they cannot be sad about my shortsightedness, I imagine they grin from ear to ear in knowing anticipation.
Thank you for stopping by! The "Quiet Child" spell has now lifted.
1. Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 more people
I chose one of my top 5 favorite books, "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard. It is not an easy read. It is a book that demands all of your attention in order to absorb it and yet the truths are simple, profound. I am on my third reading (in 5 years!). Here is the excerpt (and a little beyond the third sentence, because it was not right to leave you without the accompanying thoughts):
"Instead, Jesus took time in his teaching to point out the natural beauty of every human being.
He calls attention to how the most glamorous person you know ('Solomon in all his splendor') is not as ravishingly beautiful as a simple field flower.
Just place a daffodil side-by-side with anyone at the president's inagural ball or at the motion-picture Academy Awards, and you will see.
But the abundant life of the kingdom flowing through us makes us of greater natural beauty than plants.
"God who makes the grass so beautiful-here today and gone tomorrow burned for fuel-will cloth you 'mini-faiths' even more beautifully.' (Matthew 6:30)...
...Lostness does not have to wear a stuffed shirt to find redemption.
So we must see from our heart that:
Blessed are the physically repulsive,
Blessed are those who smell bad,
The twisted, misshapen, deformed,
The too big, too little, too loud,
The bald, the fat, and the old-
For they are all riotously celebrated in the party of Jesus."
That last sentence is the one that sticks out most to me. I love it. I do not always live it or think it or view myself or the man or woman behind the McDonald's drive-thru microphone like it, but I desperately want to. We have something in common with everyone, no matter how we appear--we are individually, uniquely and purposefully RIOTOUSLY CELEBRATED (nothing obligatory about those two words!!!) in the reality that God has created for us here on Earth, and that reality extends right on into Heaven. We share an unseen reality with Heaven right now! Doesn't that thought make Heaven seem so wonderfully close? I imagine my grandfather's up there (and my children) with their smiling eyes saying to each other "If she only knew what she had right were she is at...and how close she is, Jeane` would be estatic." And since they cannot be sad about my shortsightedness, I imagine they grin from ear to ear in knowing anticipation.
Thank you for stopping by! The "Quiet Child" spell has now lifted.
PS. Thank you to Charis, who so thoughtfully & spontaneously invited us for dinner tonight. For those who have been without a kitchen, you know how refreshing and wonderful such a telephone call can be! She did not have to ask twice. So now I must find the "sedation potion" for the children, known as a traveling Elmo's World DVD. My pride would like to write that my 7 & 18 month old would be happily contented to sit on the floor and read the illustrated "Pilgrim's Progress for Toddlers", but that would be terribly dishonest. Instead, even though they will have been previously fed a bountiful dinner, given clean diapers and plenty of attention, I'll still be juggling the baby on my lap while Christopher visits my chair at the kitchen table, acting like I have not fed him in 3 months. Such is this season...
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