My favorite genre of literature is Historical Fiction, followed closely by Memoirs. I'm not even sure that's a real genre, but incidentally this type of book can also be classified as... "historical fiction." I love it. I love being transported into that place that seems so far away and different from the place I live, only to discover that in fact it is very much the same. I love the first realization, the first epiphany, the first "aha", yes, these people who lived so very long ago are just like me. I love to highlight interesting passages and thought-provoking phrases. I'm savoring the words and the wisdom.
I just finished reading Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, the epic tale of life and death in early nineteenth century France. The political and religious commentary and essays on free education and love and marriage kept me riveted to the page--actually all 1201 pages of it. I loved each and every one. Some of the lines I highlighted in the beginning of my book:
"...there are plenty of tongues that gossip and few minds that think." p. 20
"...there is always more misery in the depths than compassion in the heights." p.25
"Teach the ignorant as much as you can. Society is to blame for not giving free education; it is responsible for the darkness it creates. The soul in darkness sins, but the real sinner is he who caused the darkness." p.30
"The beautiful is as useful as the useful. More so, perhaps." p.38
"I was not put into this world to preserve my life but to protect souls." p. 41
"And after all, in this house what have we to fear? There is always Someone with us who is stronger. The devil may visit us, but God lives here. p. 47
"...there are no trifles in the human story....It is the lineaments of the years which form the countenance of the century." p. 123
All this and I had only just barely scratched the surface. It's one of the reasons why I have never understood the person who says, "I am just not a reader." Not a reader? And, my goodness, why NOT? Haven't you ever heard the phrase, "Readers are learners and learners are leaders"? Surely there must always be people who are willing to lead and by default, people who are willing to follow. I just always thought that even a follower should only do so if they trust that the person who is leading is doing a fine job with the situation at hand. They must believe wholeheartedly that the person leads with both knowledge and conviction. In order to have this guarantee, you MUST do some work on your own. You must be willing to learn, to take information and integrate it into what you know, then assimilate it into the framework of your life.
Our lives are but a breath, and yet in the inhale and exhale of our human story there are no small moments. In the pages that make up our lives, I want mine to be filled with wisdom and intellect and relationships and love. I want to remain riveted to that fine page, basking in the warmth of the words that are my day, looking forward to the next, since I know it is building towards an amazing climax. I will relish the time it takes to get there, never skipping ahead. And I will continue to read. I will continue to learn. I will continue to lead.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
My Mother's Prayers
Never underestimate the power of a prayer. I've been praying since I was old enough to talk. I've always loved words, and I love literature especially. I find great power in the words that I read. Nuances, cadence, and intonation all serve to convey emotion in a story. They are part of the story, the words but the part that isn't really words as well. I understand this when I'm reading a book, and yet when I'm talking to God or even THINKING about talking to God, I sometimes don't do it because I don't have the words. Thankfully, God knows our hearts. He knows our anxious thoughts, and I don't have to think, write, or say a single word for him to perceive exactly what I need or want.
In recent weeks, this idea has become very clear to me. Over my lifetime, I feel like I've "barely prayed" if that makes any sense, and yet God has answered my prayers in VERY REAL ways. In high school, I prayed that God would give me a husband that loved God more than he loved me. And he did. After I married, I prayed that God would one day give me a daughter. And he gave me two. I prayed that as a family we would be able to both hear and heed God's direction for our lives. And he brought us to Canton, Georgia. Most of my life, I've barely prayed and yet God has heard me and answered me.
My children are just now learning to pray. When they hear me talk to God, they hear me asking him to help them grow into people that love Him and love others. Those two things are really all I ever hope for them. Reading a biography of Abraham Lincoln recently, I became intrigued by his religious views. Although he clearly believed in God Almighty, he did not affiliate with any particular American denomination or church. This is what he said: "When any church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of the substance of both law and Gospel, 'Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and thy neighbor as thyself' that church will I join with all my heart and all my soul." Yes, that is what I hope for my children as well!
Lincoln also penned these words: "I remember my mother's prayers, and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." I love the imagery of the prayers following him, on his heels, literally clinging to him all his life. Even if he wanted to, he could not fling them away. They were a part of him because God heard his mother's prayer. He answered her by giving little Abraham Lincoln a heart wholly devoted to God and others. At a very pivotal and divisive time in our country's history, there stood a man whose mother's prayers enabled him to lead a nation on the brink of destroying itself and knit it back together. I stand inspired by his testimony. If God can answer me when I "barely pray", I wonder what he will do when I pray with such sticky conviction that my words endure the generations.
In recent weeks, this idea has become very clear to me. Over my lifetime, I feel like I've "barely prayed" if that makes any sense, and yet God has answered my prayers in VERY REAL ways. In high school, I prayed that God would give me a husband that loved God more than he loved me. And he did. After I married, I prayed that God would one day give me a daughter. And he gave me two. I prayed that as a family we would be able to both hear and heed God's direction for our lives. And he brought us to Canton, Georgia. Most of my life, I've barely prayed and yet God has heard me and answered me.
My children are just now learning to pray. When they hear me talk to God, they hear me asking him to help them grow into people that love Him and love others. Those two things are really all I ever hope for them. Reading a biography of Abraham Lincoln recently, I became intrigued by his religious views. Although he clearly believed in God Almighty, he did not affiliate with any particular American denomination or church. This is what he said: "When any church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of the substance of both law and Gospel, 'Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and thy neighbor as thyself' that church will I join with all my heart and all my soul." Yes, that is what I hope for my children as well!
Lincoln also penned these words: "I remember my mother's prayers, and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." I love the imagery of the prayers following him, on his heels, literally clinging to him all his life. Even if he wanted to, he could not fling them away. They were a part of him because God heard his mother's prayer. He answered her by giving little Abraham Lincoln a heart wholly devoted to God and others. At a very pivotal and divisive time in our country's history, there stood a man whose mother's prayers enabled him to lead a nation on the brink of destroying itself and knit it back together. I stand inspired by his testimony. If God can answer me when I "barely pray", I wonder what he will do when I pray with such sticky conviction that my words endure the generations.
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