The Week In Words Information Post

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Barbara Harper

Some of you will have seen this information already, but I wanted to write a post of the reasoning behind and information about The Week In Words to link back to when sharing it with others.

The Week In Words was begun by Melissa at Breath of Life, but when she became unable to host it any longer, she offered for one of her readers to take it on, so I accepted.

I love quotes: I keep a file for them on my computer, underline them in books, put a sticky tab at the top of pages to remind me where they are. Sometimes it’s due to the succinctness and depth of truth in them, sometimes just the way it is worded causes me to think differently or more deeply about something. Sometimes I think, “I never thought about it quite that way.” Other times my response is, “That’s it exactly: that’s just how I though or felt, only he/she expressed it better.”

If something you read during the past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us on Mondays. The source can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. My only stipulation is that we keep it family-friendly.

There will be a Mr. Linky here on Monday mornings for you to share your Week In Words post with others, and then you can enjoy perusing the quotes that others have found. I hope you’ll join us!

Here is the code for the button:

The Week in Words — under new management

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Barbara Harper

I mentioned last week that Melissa was no longer able to host “The Week In Words” and that I was thinking of taking it up. I had just about decided not to, as there didn’t seem to be that much interest, but then Janet wrote me this morning asking if I was going to. So I decided to give it a try. I have never hosted a meme before, so this will be a learning experience!

One disadvantage is that wordpress.com does not support any kind of a “linky” system. Participants would need to leave their links in the comments, and I could also come back through the day and make a list within the post of those participating. This is how the various hosts of Poetry Friday usually do it, and it can work well. Thanks to Quilly, I did discover there is one Mr. Linky code that will work with the free hosted WordPress blogs.!

So..here we go!

As I have mentioned before, I love quotes: I keep a file for them on my computer, underline them in books, put a sticky tab at the top of pages to remind me where they are. Sometimes it’s due to the succinctness and depth of truth in them, sometimes just the way it is worded causes me to think differently or more deeply about something. Sometimes I think, “I never thought about it quite that way.” Other times my response is, “That’s it exactly: that’s just how I thought, only he/she expressed it better.” If quotes affect you the same way, if something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us.

I am struggling not to put the whole May 5 reading from Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer today: it’s good, and I encourage you to read it. But I think this quote will stand out better just by itself in this post. In discussing not shrinking from a loving heavenly Father’s will because it might be painful, Meyer says:

You will only lose what you would gladly give up if you know as much as God does of what promotes soul-health.

We’re so reluctant to give up anything or go through any changes, but sometimes what we cling to, what the Father is trying to pry from our clutched hands (or probably more accurately, what He is patiently waiting for us to release to Him), is actually what is stunting our spiritual growth and health.

I’ll just leave that one quote today since I had so much else to say, but the May 7 reading about forgiveness is excellent as well. 🙂

I’m looking forward to reading what has inspired you this week. At this point I do have one major request: please keep it family-friendly. Thanks!

1. Janet
2. Susanne

3. Susan
4. Sekyoushi

5. Mama Bear

The Week in Words

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Barbara Harper

Melissa at Breath of Life has been hosting a weekly carnival called The Week In Words,which involves sharing something from your reading that inspires you, causes you to laugh, cry, or dream, or just resonates with you in some way.

However, she is going to have to discontinue hosting due to personal issues. I am thinking of taking on the hosting of this, if someone else has not already volunteered. I love quotes: I keep a file for them on my computer and underline them in books with a sticky tab at the top of the page. Sometimes it’s due to the succinctness and depth of truth in them, sometimes just the way it is worded causes me to think differently or more deeply about something.

The free WordPress blogs do not support Mr. Linky or McLinky for people to link up their own posts, so that is a drawback. But I suppose people could leave their links in their comments, or I could update the post with them throughout the day. I will think about it and let you know next week: let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Meanwhile, I think I will probably keep sharing quotes sporadically whether the meme itself continues or not.

Here are just a few short ones that speak for themselves:

“Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge; others just gargle.”~ Dr. Robert Anthony, seen at Quoth She.

“Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.” ~ Charles H. Spurgeon, seen at Strength For Today.

“The strength of patience hangs on our capacity to believe that God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours.” ~ John Piper, seen at Wrestling With An Angel.

This comes from the May 1 reading of Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer:

“Have Faith in God” really means reckon on God’s faithfulness to you. Do not look at your faith. He who is ever considering his health will become an invalid; he who always looks down at his faith will cut the very roots from which faith grows, will shut out the beam by which faith lives. Look away to the character of God–the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy for ever.

This final one comes from a work of fiction, The Telling by Beverly Lewis. One character Grace, is asking another, Heather, if she’d like a lady that she had previously talked with, a lady who had recovered from the same illness she has, to come and see her. Heather replies, “Only if she’s not too busy…” Grace answers:

I doubt that she’s ever that busy. Where’s Sally’s concerned, the best thing ’bout life is people and makin’ time for them. People and time, that’s her motto.

I have to confess that though I would agree with the priorities in theory, in real life I often chafe against interruptions or requests on my time. I’ve been convicted often about not being hospitable enough, and I am convinced that true hospitality begins in the heart, that openness to lay aside what I am doing when someone else needs attention. I do like to be with people and do for people — when I have them scheduled in. 🙂 When I am doing something else and then someone wants my attention right now — then I don’t feel hospitable. But while I am asking the Lord to help me with that, I also take heart in reading accounts of others who have felt the same way: they may resent being interrupted at first, but they do the right thing and God changes their heart in the process. More on that later. 🙂

The Week In Words

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Barbara Harper

Melissa at Breath of Life hosts a weekly carnival called The Week In Words,which involves sharing something from your reading that inspires you, causes you to laugh, cry, or dream, or just resonates with you in some way.

Here are a few:

From Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs:

Flint Lockwood: Come on, Steve. We’ve got a diem to carpe!

OK, technically I heard that first, but I was looking at the film on the IMDb website and looked through the quotes to get it exactly, so I did read it, too. 🙂 This was a book my son loved when he was younger, and I want to get it now and read it again and see how it compares to the film. But I just love that quote!

Here are two about books:

From a friend’s Facebook page:

A little library, growing larger every year, is an honourable part of a man’s history. It is a man’s duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life. Henry Ward Beecher

And I am not sure where I saw this one — possibly at Semicolon‘s:

“The student has his Rome, his Florence, his whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library. He has in his books the ruins of an antique world and the glories of a modern one.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

And from a recent Elisabeth Elliot e-mail devotional, originally from her book A Lamp For My Feet:

What Fits Us For Service?

Is there any Christian who does not long for some special experience, vision, or feeling of the presence of God? This morning it seemed to me that unless I could claim such I was merely going through motions of prayer, meditation, reading; that the book I am writing on discipline will prove to be nothing but vanity and a striving after wind. The Lord brought yesterday’s word to mind again with this emphasis: it is not any experience, no matter how exciting, not any vision, however vivid and dazzling, not any feeling, be it ever so deep that fits me for service. It is the power of the blood of Christ. I am “made holy by the single unique offering of the body of Jesus Christ” (Heb 10:10), and by his blood “fit for the service of the living God.” My spiritual numbness cannot cancel that–the blood will never lose its power.