I love this photo of a 13 year old girl, so full of life, silliness and imagination; so rich in promise and potential if guided with time, wisdom and love. Neglect that: allow her to feed and feast on the dainties of this world, and sorrow will doubtless follow.

   

 "Do not try to make the Bible relevant. It's relevance is self-evident. Do not defend God's word, but 
testify to it. Trust the Word. It is a ship loaded to the very limits of its capacity. 
Bonhoeffer. 

  "If therefore, "there be any virtue, if there be any praise," whoever would complete the circle of the Christian life will "think on these things:' and will thrust aside the worthless swarm of competitors on his attention; and in his reading will exclusively retain, and in his living associations will never wholly lose, his close communion with the few lofty and faithful spirits that glorify our world: and above all, will at once quench and feed his thirst for the highest wisdom, by trustful and reverent resort to God in whom sanctity and sorrow, the divine and the human, mingled in a combination to sacred to be uttered, and to great to be expressed in words."  Martineau.

 In our pursuit of godliness, I like the line that says, "thrust aside the worthless swarm of competitors on our attention." Great description. I also love the last line where he describes the heart of Christianity as a world of sanctity and sorrow, the divine and the human, mingled in ineffable combination.   

"The sages of antiquity understood and proclaimed many moral truths of the highest value, some of them the same as those of the New Testament. The moral precepts of Seneca were given to the Romans at the same time with those of Christ. In an age when the highest intelligence coexisted in the empire with the most evil. Seneca's morals had no more influence upon the character of those who received and believed them than they had on the statues in the Pantheon. Seneca himself was accused of profligacy; and he was both the instructor and the victim of the worst of the Romans. The people believed his precepts and grew worse, while those who believed the teachings of the gospel in the same ages grew better and spread over the world. This is the vital point."    Walker.

  I like this description of the life in Christ that Martineau presents. When sharing my faith, this is the direction that I like to take, and letting the person know that they need not fear, Christ is living and will speak to the heart for Himself when earnestly sought.

  "We must remember, that religion is after all beyond the range of mere tuition. It is not a didactic thing that words can give, and silence can withhold. It is a spirit; a life; an aspiration; a contagious glory from soul to soul; a spontaneous union with God. Our inward unfaithfulness is sure to extinguish it; our outward policy cannot produce it. To love and to do the Holy will is the ultimate way, not only to know the truth, but to lead others to know it too." James Martineau.

  I know a number of Christians like Dickens's character described below. They use the Bible the way this man uses arithmetic.

Thomas Gradgrind, sir. A man of realities. A man of facts and calculations. A man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are four, and nothing over, and who is not to be talked into allowing for anything over. With a rule and a pair of scales, and the multiplication-table always in his pocket, sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic. You might hope to get some other nonsensical belief into the head of George Gradgrind, or Augustus Gradgrind, or John Gradgrind, but into the head of Thomas Gradgrind -- no, sir!   Charles Dickens.

I love both of these paintings; the one above by Adolf Echtler, the rich colors; the joy in the child and delight of the scene. 

And the bottom one by Nutrendo Agnelli, just captures the joy of children on the farm.