Saturday, April 01, 2006

~ April ~

This month of April is said to derive its name from the Latin verb aperio, which signifies to open , because all the buds and blossoms are now opening, and we have arrived at the gates of the flowery year. Reader, if you are yet unsaved, may your heart, in accord with the universal awakening of nature, be opened to receive the Lord. Every blossoming flower warns you that it is time to seek the Lord; be not out of tune with nature, but let your heart bud and bloom with holy desires. Do you tell me that the warm blood of youth leaps in your veins? Then, I entreat you, give your vigor to the Lord. It was my unspeakable happiness to be called in early youth, and I could fain praise the Lord every day for it. Salvation is priceless, let it when when it may, but oh! an early salvation has a double value in it. Young men and maidens, since you may perish ere you reach your prime, "It is time to seek the Lord." Ye who feel the first signs of decay, quicken your pace: that hollow cough, that hectic flush, are warnings which you must not trifle with; with you it is indeed time to seek the Lord. Did I observe a little grey mingled with your once luxurious tresses? Years are stealing on apace, and death is drawing nearer by hasty marches, let each return of spring arouse you to set your house in order. Dear reader, if you are now advanced in life, let me entreat and implore you to delay no longer. There is a day of grace for you now -- be thankful for that, but it is a limited season and grows shorter evert time that clock ticks. Here in this silent chamber, on this first night of another month, I speak to you as best I can by paper and ink, and from my inmost soul, as God's servant, I lay before you this warning, "It is time to seek the Lord." Slight not that work, it maybe be your last call from destruction, the final syllable from the lip of grace.
Charles Spurgeon, 1867
Evening by Evening

I know who holds tomorrow ...

and I know He holds my hand.

Seen on a Starbuck's cup:

"The Way I See It #85"
Let go of your sorrow.
Let go of your blues.
Coz I know tomorrow
is yesterday's news.
Let go your sadness,
give up the fight,
follow your madness
and take flight ... take flight.
-- Seal

What's your take on this?

Friday, March 31, 2006

There's nothing like a Paul Simon song

to make you smile. Well, specificially, "You can call me Al" always puts me in a good mood. That, followed by Monty Python (on launchcast) - the one about the books by famous authors - is definitely mood-changing medicine. :)

It's decided ...

I cannot read modern writers.
Last week I borrowed some books from Evva. One was a James Patterson mystery titled, Mary Mary. One was by Ann Rule, who writes about true crime, centering in the Northwest. The last was a Mary Higgins Clark book titled No Place Like Home. Okay, the Mary Higgins Clark book was good. I like her stories, they don't freak me out. :)
However, the other two ... had weird dreams all week!! Even woke up screaming one night! So no more of those for me! :)
Right now I am reading a collection of Agatha Christie stories. I'm in the Parker Pyne ones right now. I have to say, I love English writers. I love their vocabulary. I love that when something is important they capitalize the first letter of the word (e.g. in Winnie the Pooh, "Now it happened that Kanga had felt rather motherly that morning, and Wanting to Count Things - like Roo's vests, and how many pieces of soap ..."). :) I don't think I have read very many American writers. I was thinking about that the other day - I've never read Tennyson or Thoreau or Emerson ... I love Elizabeth Barette Browning, though. And Dickens and Christie, and of course Austen. Although those Bronte sisters depress me, their writing is still good. :)
So it is decided. I'm sticking to the classics.