Souvenirs of Solitude
One of my dearest friends, the most beautiful Teresa Pieklik, recommended a new book to me, and I asked for it and received it for Easter. So far it is wonderful and I am greatly enjoying the writer's style and point of view. Not to mention that his words are also speaking to my heart. Here are some nuggets of truth I have found from Brennan Manning's Souvenirs of Solitude so far:
"There is one crucial sin against love that deserves special attention because it is so crucial to the second call of Jesus Christ: procrastination. That is, putting things off, wasting the energies of life and love that are within us." (ouch)
-I think that procrastination--not doing the things I know I should do-- is one of my biggest personal struggles. One day I would like to walk in victory over it.
"If we are going to keep growing, we must keep on risking failure throughout our lives...The Christian with depth is the person who has lived and learned to live with his failure."
-I remember when I started school at UGA, my dad would always tell me that I should not be afraid of failure. I would get so wrapped up in trying to make the best grades and forget that grades are not the end of the world. And the thing was, my parents never asked me to be perfect. They just asked me to work hard. It is the same with Jesus. Yes, He tells us to be perfect as the Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) But He also knows that we are human, and we fall. And that is okay, because He is always there with open arms to take us back.
"What the world longs for from the Christian faith is the witness of men and women daring enough to be different, humble enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burnt in the fire of love, real enough to make others see how unreal they are."
-I think the world's biggest problem with Christians is that they see us as hypocrites. Was it not Gandhi who said, "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." (ouch) We walk around telling others to be like us, when God never said that we should all be legalistic robots. He wants us to walk in His love and be like Him, and oftentimes we just do not do His name justice. He is so wonderful, and yet our lives just do not mirror that to the world. I hope and pray that my life reflects a God that people want to get to know better instead of instilling some kind of repulsion or indifference to Him who is worthy to be praised.
"There is one crucial sin against love that deserves special attention because it is so crucial to the second call of Jesus Christ: procrastination. That is, putting things off, wasting the energies of life and love that are within us." (ouch)
-I think that procrastination--not doing the things I know I should do-- is one of my biggest personal struggles. One day I would like to walk in victory over it.
"If we are going to keep growing, we must keep on risking failure throughout our lives...The Christian with depth is the person who has lived and learned to live with his failure."
-I remember when I started school at UGA, my dad would always tell me that I should not be afraid of failure. I would get so wrapped up in trying to make the best grades and forget that grades are not the end of the world. And the thing was, my parents never asked me to be perfect. They just asked me to work hard. It is the same with Jesus. Yes, He tells us to be perfect as the Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) But He also knows that we are human, and we fall. And that is okay, because He is always there with open arms to take us back.
"What the world longs for from the Christian faith is the witness of men and women daring enough to be different, humble enough to make mistakes, wild enough to be burnt in the fire of love, real enough to make others see how unreal they are."
-I think the world's biggest problem with Christians is that they see us as hypocrites. Was it not Gandhi who said, "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." (ouch) We walk around telling others to be like us, when God never said that we should all be legalistic robots. He wants us to walk in His love and be like Him, and oftentimes we just do not do His name justice. He is so wonderful, and yet our lives just do not mirror that to the world. I hope and pray that my life reflects a God that people want to get to know better instead of instilling some kind of repulsion or indifference to Him who is worthy to be praised.