Beauty

I'm reading a book right now called 'The Lost Art of True Beauty' written by Leslie Ludy.  I've only reached the second chapter, but a quote a few pages in captured my attention.  It reads:

'They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that Great Being who made and rules the world.  They say that He fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything except to meditate on Him. 

If you present all the world to her, with the riches of its treasures, she disregards it.  She is unmindful of any pain or affliction.  She has a singular purity in her affections. 

You could not persuade her to compromise her true Love even if you would give her all the world.  She possesses a wonderful sweetness, calmness, and kindness to those around her.  She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly. 

She seems to be always full of joy and pleasure, and no one knows exactly why.  She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have Someone invisible always conversing with her.'

~ Written about Sarah Edwards, by her future husband, Jonathan Edwards.

Oh, let us aspire to this, fellow sisters in Christ!  To be completely and utterly His...to live always in sweet fellowship with Him, so that everything we do is the outpouring of our love for Him, the window through which the world sees who our Jesus truly is.

A Bittersweet Farewell... Or Is It?

Well, it has come to an end, as all things in this world must.  Oh, how I do love the little tastes of Heaven we're given even here!  And I'm so thankful that God brings us through seasons - so thankful we never stay in one place, that no matter how difficult things may be, they don't last forever.  Jesus faithfully brings us through them and into another season, closer to His side than before, and with a greater understanding of who He is.  And that is so worth any possible pain I could go through...

I love the restful periods of refreshment, the times where I feel He is just saying, "My dear child, I love you.  Know it.  Bask in it.  Be joyful.  Delight in Me."  That's where I am at the moment, and I'm thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.  :-) 

Being involved in this show ('The Importance of Being Earnest', in case you missed my previous posts here and here.) has been a wonderful combination of emotional rest and productive work.  I had rather forgotten how marvelous it is to make people laugh!  :-) 

'A merry heart doeth good like a medicine...'  Proverbs 17:22

This reminder has spilled over into other areas of my life, too, and that has been a blessing.  Cheerfulness is something that I'm called to no matter where I am, but certain times of life make it much easier...  :-)

At any rate, I have really relished the opportunity to love people.  It's challenging at times, and very easy at others.  It was so difficult to say good-bye yesterday...  I knew it would be, the end of a show is always hard for me, but this one hit me in ways I didn't expect.  It got me thinking that whenever you love, you give of yourself. And when you do that, it opens you up to that bittersweet pain of being connected to people.  Knowing that when you love people, you will be hurt at some point, does that mean we shouldn't love anyway?

Jesus loved, and look where it led Him!  And He never, ever regretted it...  Loving is always worth it, regardless.

'A friend loveth at all times...'  Proverbs 17:17

The Happy Months Fly By...

Well, we're on the last week of performances for 'The Importance of Being Earnest'!  I can't believe these four weeks have gone by so quickly!  It's been a wonderful journey to make with a wonderful cast and crew of people, I'm sure going to miss it all. 

You spend six weeks rehearsing and then a month performing, it becomes a welcome part of one's life - the people become part of your life.  Like family, you didn't choose them, but you love them anyway.  :-)  People.  You love them because they're there.  If they're there, God has placed them there, placed them in your way, in your life for a reason.  And so you love.  Because He loves. 

A Mother's Love

Motherhood

by Agnes Lee

Mary, the Christ long slain, passed silently,
Following the children joyously astir
Under the cedrus and the olive tree,
Pausing to let their laughter float to her.
Each voice an echo of a voice more dear,
She saw a little Christ in every face.

Then came another woman gliding near
To watch the tender life which filled the place.
And Mary sought the woman's hand, and spoke:
"I know thee not, yet know thy memory tossed
With all a thousand dreams their eyes evoke
Who bring thee a child beloved and lost.

"I, too, have rocked my little One.
And He was fair,
Oh, fairer than the fairest sun,
And like its rays through amber spun
His sun-bright hair!
Still I can see it shine and shine."
"Even so," the woman said, "was mine."

"His ways were ever darling ways" -
And Mary smiled -
"So soft and clinging! Glad relays
Of love were all His precious days.
My little child!
My infinite star! My music fled!"
"Even so was mine," the woman said.

And Mary whispered: "Tell me, thou,
Of thine." And she:
"Oh, mine was rosy as a bough
Blooming with roses, sent, somehow,
To bloom for me.

His balmy fingers left a thrill
Deep in my breast that warms me still."
Then gazed she down some wilder, darker hour,
And said - when Mary questioned, knowing not,
"Who art thou, mother of so sweet a flower?" -
"I am the mother of Iscariot."

Jesus, Hold Me Now

This is another song that has ministered to my heart this week. It's worth a listen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5oJPfTofxo

Jesus, Hold Me Now

by Casting Crowns

Living on my own, thinking of myself

Castles in the sand, temporary wealth

Now the walls are falling down

Now the storms are closing in

And here I am again

Jesus, hold me now

I need to feel You in this place

To know You're by my side

And hear Your voice tonight

Jesus, hold me now

I long for Your embrace

I'm beat and broken down

I can't find my way out

Jesus, hold me now

Curse this morning sun

Drags me into one more day

Of reaping what I've sown

Living with my shame

So welcome to my world

And the life that I have made

One day you're a prince

And the next day you a slave

Lord, I just looked up today

And realized how far away I am

From where You are

And I don't know what else to pray

Broken at Your feet I lay

The life I've torn apart

Jesus, hold me now

I feel You in this place

I know You're by my side

I hear Your voice tonight

Jesus, hold me now