Quotes for Reflection on Saturday #4

“Come on Mr. Frodo. I can’t carry it for you. But I can carry you!”

Here, near the end of their journey, Frodo collapses. He has used all his strength to go this far and he can’t go on anymore. The weight of the ring has brought him down and he is too weak to continue. On his own that is. But with courage and determination Sam takes Frodo upon his back and brings him to Mount Doom.

There is a very important lesson to be learned from this event. It shows us that as human beings we are not perfect. We can not resist temptations and the trials of our timely existence without help. We need to stick together as a community. We need to have friends we can rely on, who we can talk to about anything. These friends need to be people who will hold us accountable to the wrong we do, but who will do so with love. We can not make it through this life on our own. We have to let people hold and comfort us, and the most important way we can do that is to just let God hold us by coming to Him in prayer.

This quote from Lord of the Rings reminded me of another story that my mother has hanging on the wall. It goes like this.

“One night I had a dream...

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of my life flashed before us, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life, There was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, You would walk with me all the way; But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, There is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why in times when I needed you the most, you should leave me.

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child. I love you, and I would never, never leave you during your times of trial and suffering. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.”

Even in our darkest times, when we think that the Lord has abandoned us, that He has left us to wallow in sorrow. We must remember that He is there with us all the way, and he is going to carry us through this storm. All we must do is persevere. He LOVES US! And love does not abandon people. Do not worry friends, the hardships will pass.

John 16:33

“I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

Quotes for Reflection on Saturday, #3

(Yes, I am well aware that it is Tuesday. Never you mind. -Tally)

We think this verse is self-explanatory and needs no reflection; allow us merely to say that in the uncertainty that comes with discerning one's vocation--amidst the worry about the future--it speaks powerfully about trust. It is a much-needed reminder that as long as we do our best to trust in God with the innocent trust of children, He will never let us go astray, but will always bring us closer to Himself.

Quotes for Reflection on Saturday #2

Sorry I skipped out on this little series last week; I was very busy.  I hope this one will make up for it.

“Man is certainly stark mad: he cannot make a worm, yet he will make gods by the dozen.”

~Michel de Montaigne

I’ve been familiar with this quote for a long time.  I do not know much about the author, aside from the fact that he was a respected politician, is a respected essayist, and was a devout Roman Catholic (which makes it very amusing that after all my years of loving this quote I should find it HERE.) 

I have not only loved this quote for years, I find that I have most unfortunately lived it for years.  Yes, dear friends, I am stark raving mad, and for the longest time I never even knew it. 

It used to be that when I thought of the First Commandment (“thou shalt not have strange Gods before me”) I would think—quite naturally—of the pagans.  False gods, in my mind, meant Baal and Thoth and Thor and the like.  It meant making statues of creatures, killing calves before them, and other such strange and recognizable practices.

However, gods are much more easily and subtly made.  A god can be anything to which we attach the value and attributes of the One True God; worship is not just in blood, but in attention, time, and love.  How much time and attention does it require to make a “strange god” of something?  I believe that question is best answered with another: how much time, attention, and love does the True God require?

Well, all of it, frankly.  He Who gives us our very existence…He Who commands us to pray without ceasing…He Who is infinite…He demands all of our time, all of our love, and all of our attention.  Nothing can have value outside of an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God because nothing is outside of Him.  I cringed when I realized this.  If a false god is anything  given what belongs to God—and all attention, love, and value belongs to God—that means that if we place value on anything we have made a false god.  Every time I watch television without God as my end, I’ve made a false god.  Every time I read a book without reflecting upon how that action serves God, I have made a false God.  Every time I love my loved ones without viewing that love as a service for the Lord, I have made a false God.

Now, I am not saying that we live in mortal sin all the time.  We are human beings; it is in our nature to love others and to enjoy pleasure.  We unconsciously attach God-less value to all sorts of things, and an unconscious sin is hardly a sin.  Yet…

Dear Lord, how many Gods we make!

(Now please enjoy this off-topic quote:

“There is one thing worse than being alone: wishing you were.”

~Bob Steele
Thank you for reading!)

Quotes for Reflection on Saturday, #1

"Man approaches God most nearly when he is in one sense least like God.  For what can be more unlike than fullness and need, sovereignty and humility, righteousness and penitence, limitless power and a cry for help?  This paradox staggered me when I first ran into it..." -C.S.Lewis, *The Four Loves*

Me, too, Lewis.  Me, too.

Firstly, I would like to say that if you have not read this book, you must go out and purchase it immediately, clear your afternoon, and consume its contents as fast as possible.  I pulled this jewel from the Introduction!  C.S.Lewis is arguably one of the greatest religious authors of all time.

This quote recalls to my mind Matthew 19:14

"Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such." (DRV)

Lewis strikes at the heart of our relationship with God.  It is as little children that we approach Him; small, meek, humble, and needy.  And He receives us as a Father; strong, guiding, providing for us in our weakness.  Were we to be anything other than the opposite of these attributes that are God's, our relationship would not be that which it is.  In fact, it would not be at all.  God is God precisely because He is a Father.  If we were anything other than children, we would be gods.  If we thought we were anything other than children, we would make ourselves gods.

In fact, not only are we opposites of God in this sense, but we are a lack.  We are needy because we lack what is necessary to be full.  We are penitent because we lacked the righteousness necessary to prevent ourselves from falling.  We cry for help because we have no means to help ourselves.  We are not simply opposite; we are nothing.  And it is in the realization of our nothingness that we approach God to become Something in Him, to become one with Him.  It is only by emptying ourselves that God can fill us with His Grace.

Of course, I didn't come up with that last bit.  That's all Chesterton:

"It is the root of all religion that a man knows that he is nothing in order to thank God that he is something."

Great minds think alike.

Lewis says that this realization "staggered" him.  I would argue that one must stagger before they can realize it.  Only when we are brought to our knees and forcibly reminded that we cannot depend on ourselves or our fellow human beings, can we truly realize our nothingness, and so approach Our Father as children.