Neighborhood Evening Walk

Psalm 16:11 ~ You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Proverbs 11:28 ~ Whoever trusts in his riches will fall but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

Ephesians 5: 1-2 ~ Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ has loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

I wish you could smell the wonderful fragrance of this Night Blooming Jasmine. The development that we live in has planted these flowering shrubs in all the common beds. Makes for a wonderful fragrant evening walk…

Isaiah 40:8 ~ The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.

Isaiah 44:22 ~ I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Our marine layer mist comes from the Pacific over the Santa Monica Mountains to envelope our mornings…

Photobucket blacked out all my photos and is holding all my photos hostage as of July 2017.

Solzhenitsyn: A Pictorial Record, 1974

How easy it is for me to live with you, Lord!

How easy it is for me to believe in you!

When my mind is distraught and my reason fails,

When the cleverest people do not see further than this evening what must be done tomorrow

You grant me the clear confidence

that you exist, and that you will take care

that not all the ways of goodness are stopped.

At the height of earthly fame I gaze with wonder at

that path through hopelessness –

to this point from which even I have been able

to convey to men some reflection of the Light

which comes from you.

And you will enable me to go on doing

as much as needs to be done.

~ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN

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Clinging: The Experience of Prayer, 1984 ~ Emilie Griffin

There is a moment between intending to pray and actually praying that is as dark and silent as any moment in our lives. It is the split second between thinking about praying and really praying. For some of us, this split second may last for decades. It seems, then, that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of will, the starting, the acting, the doing. How easy it is, and yet – between us and the possibility of prayer there seems to be a great gulf fixed: an abyss of our own making that separates us from God.

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Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis ~ Quote

If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be delight. Some day, please God, it will be. The same is true of many other behaviours which now appear as duties. If I loved my neighbor as myself, most of the actions which are now my moral duty would flow out of me as spontaneously as song from a lark or fragrance from a flower. Why is this not so yet? Well, we know, don’t we? Aristotle has taught us that delight is the “bloom” on an unimpeded activity. But the very activities for which we were created are, while we live on earth, variously impeded: by evil in ourselves or in others. Not to practise them is to abandon our humanity. To practise them spontaneously and delightfully is not yet possible. The situation creates the category of duty, the whole specifically moral realm.

It exists to be transcended. Here is the paradox of Christianity. As practical imperatives for here and now the two great commandments have to be translated “Behave as if you loved God and man.” For no man can love because he is told to. Yet obedience on this practical level is not really obedience at all. And if a man really loved God and man, once again this would hardly be obedience; for if he did, he would be unable to help it. Thus the command really says to us, “Ye must be born again.” Till then, we have duty, morality, the Law. A schoolmaster, as St Paul says, to bring us to Christ. We must expect no more of it than of a schoolmaster; we must allow it no less…

But the school-days, please God, are numbered. There is no morality in heaven. The angels never knew (from within) the meaning of the word ought, and the blessed dead have long since gladly forgotten it. This is why Dante’s Heaven is so right, and Milton’s, with its military discipline so silly.

…In the perfect and eternal world the Law will vanish. But the results of having lived faithfully under it will not.

I am therefore not really deeply worried by the fact prayer is at present a duty, and even an irksome one.

The Transforming Power of Prayer ~ James Houston

I used to think that prayer was a spiritual exercise – something that needed to be worked at, like running or vaulting. But I was never any good at sports, and perhaps I would never be any good at prayer either. After years of feeling useless and guilty, I began to realize the truth of a comment made by one of the early Fathers of the church, Clement of Alexandria. He said that “prayer is keeping company with God.” This began to give me a new focus on prayer. I began to see prayer more as a friendship than a rigorous discipline. It started to become more of a relationship and less of a performance.”

~ James Houston

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Celtic Prayer

Lord of my heart, give me vision to inspire me, that, working or resting, I may always think of you.

Lord of my heart, give me light to guide me, that, at home or abroad, I may always walk with you.

Lord of my heart, give me wisdom to direct me, that, thinking or acting, I may always discern right from wrong.

Lord of my heart, give me courage to strengthen me, that, amongst friends or enemies, I may always proclaim your justice.

Lord of my heart, give me trust to console me, that, hungry or well-fed, I may always rely on your mercy.

Lord of my heart, save me from empty praise, that I may always boast of you.

Lord of my heart, save me from worldly wealth, that I may always look to the riches of heaven.

Lord of my heart, save me from military prowess, that I may always seek your protection.

Lord of my heart, save me from vain knowledge, that I may always study your word.

Lord of my heart, Save me from unnatural pleasures, that I may always find joy in your wonderful creation.

Lord of my heart, whatever may befall me, rule over my thoughts and feelings, my words and action.

If you’ve read through this today may I suggest you go back now and pray it and if you can, pray it out loud. Blessings!

The Decade of the 50’s at a Glance

Here are 3 of my siblings, me and my pop in the glorious 50’s. Fred, Pop, Ellen (me), Kathy and Vera. The next four siblings started arriving from 1958 through 1963.

I was born in 1951. The beginning of the 50’s. Here are some amazing events that occurred in this decade.

1950 – Senator Joseph McCarthy embarks on a public crusade to uncover Communist activity in the U.S.

1950 – First kidney transplant and first successul heart massage are performed.

1950 – U.S. sends troops to Korea.

1951 – Color television is introduced. [Ellen was born, maybe this is the reason I’m visual!]

1952 – A priest, minister, and rabbi sanction the appearance of Lucille Ball’s pregnancy on her TV show.

1952 – Albert Scweitzer is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1952 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected.

1953 – Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine is certified to prevent infantile paralysis.

1954 – Congress adds the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

1954 – Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas outlaws segegation in schools striking down the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a city bus and, in effect, begins the civil rights movement.

[1955 – Disneyland Opens in Anaheim, California.]

1956 – Elvis Presley releases “Heartbreak Hotel” and starts a music revolution.

1956 – Eisenhower and Nixon win again.

1957 – Federal troops are called in to protect the Little Rock Nine, the first black students to attend all-white Central High.

1957 – The baby boom peaks at 4.3 million births.

1957 – The USSR launches a satellite, Sputnik I, into orbit around the earth.

1959 – The first Barbie doll is introduced.

1959 – Texas Instruments invents the microchip.

1959 – Alaska becomes the 49th state, Hawaii the 50th.

Some memorable quotes to go with this decade…

“We conclude that in the field of education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place.” Earl Warren, Chief Justice, Brown v. The Board of Education, 1954

“Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism. Without God , there could be no American form of government, nor American way of life.” Dwight D. Eisenhower – American Chronicle, 1955

“If the television craze continues with the present level of programs, we are destined to have a nation of morons.” Daniel Marsh (President of Boston College, Columbia Chronicles, 1950)

“Roll over Beethoven. And tell Tchaikovsky the news.” Chuck Berry, “Roll Over Beethoven,” 1956

This photo was taken in the late 60’s. Top Row: Oldest sister Kathy, pop, mom, Vera, Me, Tim, Leonard, Lana and Steve. Our brother Fred who is older than me is missing from this photo. All of my parents kids were born in the late 40’s, 50’s with the twins arriving in the 60’s.

I couldn’t finish this post without an additional photo of the last two siblings in our family. Twins born in 1963, Lana and Leonard. Oh the tales we can tell you about the marvelous 60’s and these two, but this is a post about the 50’s so those tales will have to wait….

Letters to an American Lady ~ C.S. Lewis ~ Quote

This quote comes from Letters to an American Lady ~by C.S. Lewis

Another thing that annoys me is when people say “Why did you give that man money? He’ll probably go and drink it.” My reply is “But if I’d kept [it] I should probably have drunk it.

This really convicted me because I’ve used this excuse not to be generous with beggars, homeless, needy people. What am I wasting my money on (the money I’m guarding and protecting from people like them)? Teach me Lord and let me be generous with your money. Forgive me for my arrogance and selfishness. Let me trust that you will lead me to give where and when and to whom you want. Let me respond to your leading.

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On Things Above ~ C.S. Lewis ~ Longing for Heaven

Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:1-4 (ESV)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This quote by C.S. Lewis comes from Mere Christianity

Most of us find it very difficult to want “Heaven” at all – except in so far as “Heaven” means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognise it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.”

Life Together ~ Bonhoeffer

This is a quote from Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer from the section on Community:

Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.

Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.

Life Together. Copyright 1954 by HarperCollins Publishers.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Quotes