a beautiful mess

in an effort to continue growing as a creative writer, member of community-at-large, and generous thief with a goal of sharing lessons i have either learned from life/relationships or stolen from others who have done the same, i am creating a little space at abm for moleskine mondays: sharing with you some of what has grabbed my attention/heart through various quotes, art, lyrics, blogs, stats, etc.

these have found a longstanding home in my journal, and are presently being rolled around inside my head and heart. i’ll disclose full links when possible, or when i care to, or at least when, in actuality, i do.

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leslie newbigin remarked, “the only hermeneutic of the gospel is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it.”

from rumi i have stolen this, “come, come, whoever you are. wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. it doesn’t matter. ours is not a caravan of despair. come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. come, yet again, come, come.”

these last words of a fictional character still haunt me to this day, “i am concerned only over one thing. i hope you will be wholehearted, not torn in two.” – abuyah to his son elisha in milton steinberg’s novel, as a driven leaf. also reminiscent of “you cannot serve two masters…”.

danny silk on parenting reminds me that, “the goal is not to control the child, but to control ourselves. to be self-controlled; to give them (the child) a model of a well-put together adult…and prepare them to live in the kingdom of GOD: in the presence of the LORD: and where the presence of the LORD is, there is freedom and liberty.”

in a dream, i had this thought, “faith without works is as running without movement.” i guess this is a dead giveaway that our local church has been walking through the letter of james lately. haha!

amazon is currently selling 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover volumes.

mumford and sons’ lyrics remind me who GOD is when they sing, “love will not betray, dismay or enslave you / it will set you free / to be more like the man / you were meant to be” – 1 john 4.16, i mean, what do we do with that, really?