"We often judge of a thing according as we have it at heart; for we easily lose true judgment through private affection.
If God were always the one aim of our desire, we should not so easily be disturbed at resistance to our opinions.
But there is often something lying hid within, or occurring from without, which draws us also along with it.
Many secretly seek themselves in what they do, and know it not.
They seem also to continue in good peace; when aught is done according to their will and judgment; but if it be done otherwise than they wish, they are soon moved and become sad."
Thomas A Kempis.

I like this quote, and the way I take it is, that our way of thinking, "have it at heart", and our emotional reaction to things, "private affection", are the things lying hidden within and are the filter we interpret circumstances with and then allow to draw us along into narrow or self centered thinking.

Hold to the hollow

I was re-reading Thomas A Kempis this morning and it was coming alive for me.
One sentence that struck me was---

"No man is led willingly further than he himself sees."

I think that is so true whether for the Christian or the unbeliever. We love to be taught truths, doctrines, that we have some concept of already, even if ever so vague; but when we are presented with an idea that is outside of our experience or sight, we often dig our heels in and cling to the familiar, even if it is a hollow concept.

Small miseries, like small debts, hit us in so many places, and meet us at so many turns and corners, that what they lack in weight, they make up in number, and render it less hazardous to stand in the fire of one cannon ball, than a volley composed of such a shower of bullets – Colton.

If all the misfortunes of mankind were cast into a public stock, in order to be equally distributed among the whole species, those who now think themselves the most unhappy would prefer the share they are already possessed of before that which would fall to them by such a division. – Socrates.

These kind of thoughts are of great comfort to me when I'm whining about some trifle that has me up nights or biting my nails.

None has more frequent conversations with disagreeable self than the man of pleasure; his enthusiasms are but few and transient; his appetites, like angry creditors, are continually making fruitless demands for what he is unable to pay; And the greater his former pleasures, the more strong his regret, the more impatient his expectations. A life of pleasure is, therefore, the most unpleasing life. –Goldsmith

Worldly riches are like nuts; many clothes are torn in getting them, many a tooth broke in cracking them, but never a belly filled with eating them. – Venning

The misanthrope

The misanthrope is a man who avoids society, only to free himself from the trouble of being useful to it; who considers his neighbors only on the side of their defects, not knowing the art of combining their virtues with their vices, and of rendering the imperfections of other people tolerable by reflecting on his own.
He is more employed in finding out and punishing the guilty, than in devising means to reform them; and because he thinks his talents are not sufficiently valued and employed by his fellow citizens, or rather because they know his foibles and do not choose to be subject to his caprices, he talks of quitting cities, towns, and societies, and living in dens or deserts. – Saurin.

The part of this quote that struck me is "not knowing the art of combining their virtues with their vices". We are long on this with those we love, often overlooking vices entirely, but to the casual acquaintancee, we are often too short. Giving them up with the appearance of one or two vices.

He that has no resources of mind, is more to be pitied than he who is in want of necessaries for the body; to be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others, bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him, who begs his daily bread.
Colton.

Now think about that.....

The Death Bed

We watched her breathing through the night--
Her breathing soft and low--
As in her breast the wave of life
Kept heaving to and fro.

So, silently we seemed to speak,
so slowly moved about,
As we had lent her half our powers
To eke her living out.

Our wearied hopes belied our fears,
Our fears our hopes belied;
We thought her dying when she slept,
And sleeping when she died.

For when morn came, dim and sad,
And chill with early showers,
Her quiet eyelids closed ; she had
Another morn than ours.
Thomas Hood

Eva's Death -- From Uncle Tom's Cabin

Eva, after this, declined rapidly; there was no more any doubt of the event; the fondest hope could not be blinded. Her beautiful room was avowedly a sickroom, and Miss Ophelia, day and night, performed the duties of a nurse, and never did her friends appreciate her value more than in that capacity. With so well trained a hand and eye, such perfect adroitness and practice in every art which could promote neatness and comfort and keep out of sight every disagreeable incident of sickness – with such a perfect sense of time, such a clear, untroubled head, such exact accuracy in remembering every prescription and direction of the doctors – she was everything to St. Clare. They who had shrugged their shoulders at the little peculiarities and setnesses --- so unlike the careless freedom of Southern manners – acknowledged that now she was the exact person that was wanted.
Uncle Tom was much in Eva’s room. The child suffered much from nervous restlessness, and it was a relief to her to be carried; and it was Tom’s greatest delight to carry her little frail form in his arms, resting on a pillow, now up and down her room, now out into the veranda; and when the fresh sea-breezes blew from the lake – and the child felt freshest in the morning – he would sometimes walk with her under the orange-trees in the garden, or sitting down in some of their old seat, sing to her their favorite old hymns.
Her father often did the same thing; but his frame was slighter, and when he was weary, Eva would say to him –
“Oh, papa, let Tom take me. Poor fellow! It pleases him; and you know it’s all he can do for me now, and he wants to do something!”
“So do I, Eva!” said her father.
“Well, papa, you can do everything, and are everything to me. You read to me –
you sit up nights; and Tom has only this one thing, and his singing; and I know, too, he does it easier than you can. He carries me so strong!”
Harriet Beecher Stowe -- Sister to Henry Ward Beecher, Father Lyman Beecher.

This piece touches me at so many levels. Of course with six granddaughters, I sense the pathos and imagine the grief of the parents. But the character that makes me well up is Tom.
I picture him and his limitations, but what he can do, he does with such love. "He carries me so strong." That line just strikes such a chord in me. I had an Uncle that also had many limitations, but he too, 'carried me strong'.

To A Waterfowl

This classic poem by William Cullen Bryant is well known, but each time I read it I love where he takes me. I love the nature poets. I have sat by a pond or lake many times fishing and watching the ducks fly in for a landing with their wings making that soothing whistling sound. I have watched as well, many times the ducks in the distance, a shadow in the setting suns light, so I particularly like this one and where it takes me.

To a Waterfowl

Whither, midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou purse
Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler’s eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.

Seek’st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean-side?

There is a power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast –
The desert and illimitable air ----
Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;
Soon thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
Soon, o’er thy sheltered nest.

Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given.
And shall not soon depart:

He, who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.
William Cullen Bryant.

What Immigrants Bring to Oregon

Ugh, you hear it all the time. “Ey, Mayor Potter, what’s the deal with that new office of Fresh-Off-the-Boat Attitudes?”
“You really think a huddle of smart-aleck immigrants are worth our money?”
I’ve seen it happen, I’ve watched him pause, before responding. “Hmm, Yes, Immigrants, Uh, why are they important to us?”

I hold up three fingers for each big reason we are indispensable. Us immigrants, to America.
Okay, once and for all, City Hall types, snip and magnet this column to your file cabinet --
Fresh off the boaters are unabashed believers in American participatory democracy. We love the stuff. Cynicism and his uncivil cousin, passivity, have not yet visited our humble homes.

Newcomers are all about community. Count us in your tribe, and we’ll rumble to the last stubborn soldier for you. Loyalty is the currency of every ricepicker’s realm.

Immigrants are above all, a practical folk. Wasting time, squandering face, and most importantly, misspending money, are antithetical to these very bones.

Let me give you some cultural differences, we went by a pet store and here is what we call our D list. D is not for dope, or for dumb, D is for dog.

At the dog store, we saw doggie videos. VHS format is $10.50; DVD for $15.50.
You sit Skippy in front of your Sanyo. These movies are for him. Shot from a “Doggie Cam point of view. Whew!!!
This is decidedly unFOB (Fresh off the Boat).
Dogs do not figure big into democracy. People do. People watch movies.

On the doggie store’s shelves there are clothes. Dog clothes. Shoes, shirts, sweaters, windbreakers, rain slickers. They sell Doggie-Ts that say; Pet this; Rich Bitch; Bad Hair Day and perhaps the most vexing for FOB folks; “Favorite Grandchild” in both hot pink and baby blue. Life jackets run from $49. to $70.
For Dogs.

Definitely not FOB. Of course, we are communal; certainly I am loyal as a dog. But dogs belong outside. They wait below Aunties kitchen window for leftovers.
They’ve never—not in any grand elder’s memory – worn coats or galoshes. Dogs are pretty good at ducking rain. Indeed, it’s a dog’s job to protect us, not the other way around. As a matter of fact, when things get really bad…we eat them.
Lab adobo. Yum!

In front of the doggie store, there are strollers. Dog strollers. You put Muffy in there. You push her around town. There’s screen windows all around so she can see. “Mesh provides full protection from bugs.” The best model has shock absorbers in back and bright reflectors up front. For safety. They go for $127. to $229. That’s US dollars. That’s totally unFOB.

FOB is as follows; Money is really hard to get. Really hard to save. Really important for schooling our kids, for keeping healthy our grandparents, for living cozy in a house ma’s dreamt of; for dressing good at church or temple or mosque, for arriving there in a really cool Acura. White is best.
Money is necessary for back home; money can’t be made back there like you can here. Our money will make right all the bad brought upon us by awful winds and ugly oceans and angry volcanoes and murderous quakes. And our stupid sultans. Our careless leaders.
Ayoh, Portlanders. Oregon does not have too many immigrants – indeed, we have not enough. Newcomers come practical, clear headed. Like common sense, you can’t have too much.

This article taken from The Asian Reporter.

Spit out the bones

I was reading one of my favorite authors the other day, Orison S. Marden. He is the most optimistic author I have ever read. He is a Christian, with a D.D. and an M.D. and a few other letters as well. He lived in the late 1800s and died in 1926 I think. I think enough of one of his books that I have purchased one for each of my kids. That being said, whoever I read, I take the good and pass over the not so good. So, as I was reading a chapter about 'Thinking You Are A Failure', which is about negative thoughts and the senseless banter that goes on in our heads, when I came across these lines -- "A vividness, a certain force, accompanies the spoken word,--
especially if earnestly, vehemently uttered -- which is not apparent to many in merely thinking about what the words express. If you repeat a firm resolve to yourself aloud, vigorously, even vehemently, you are more likely to carry it to reality than if you merely resolve in silence.
We become so accustomed to our silent thoughts that the voicing of them, the giving audible expression to our yearnings, makes a much deeper impression upon us."

So I began to picture myself doing what he suggested and I said, 'Hey, if I'm going to be speaking outloud, and vigorously, and vehemently, then I'm not going to waste my time talking to myself, I'm going to talk to someone who can get the job done! So I left my chair, went into my bedroom and began to pray.
Now I have no doubt that speaking positive thoughts would have some advantage, but, please forgive me, I'll do my shouting, my yearning, my vigorous talking, with the Lord. I don't say this to discredit my favorite author, but sometimes you eat the fish and spit out the bones. This was one of those cases.

Thoughts from Napoleon

In his exile at St. Helena, Napoleon was one day conversing, as was his wont, about the great men of antiquity, and comparing himself with them. He suddenly turned round to one of his suite and asked: "Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was?" The officer owned that he had not given much thought to such things. "Well, then," said Napoleon, "I will tell you." He then compared Christ with himself and the heroes of antiquity and showed how far Jesus surpassed them.
"I think I understand somewhat of human nature," said he, "and I tell you all these were men, and I am a man, but not one is like Him. Jesus Christ was more than a man, but not one is like him. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself; founded great empires; but upon what did the creation of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love and to this very day millions would die for Him.
Men wonder at the conquests of Alexander, but here is a conqueror who draws men to Himself, incorporates into Himself, not a nation, but the whole human race."

Sweetmeats?

This is an excerpt from a chapter on Rewards and Punishments, from "Our Home". 1899

"As a rule the reward when given should appeal to the mental rather than the physical.
It should be something which has a tendency to stimulate the thinking or inventive power rather than something which merely satisfies a physical want. It is generally better to give a book than a drum, although there are far meaner rewards than a drum. Candy and sweetmeats should never under any circumstances be offered. That which is unfit for an adult is surely unfit to constitute a reward for a child. It is a fact that the world makes its greatest efforts in response to the demands of sensual gratification. Is it unreasonable to suppose that the foundation of this evil is laid in childhood through the pernicious practise of rewarding children with sweetmeats?"

I'm afraid I stand guilty, being a Grandfather, I might be accused of this evil, pernicious practise on an occasion or two. That aside, I like the advice and it makes me think a little instead of missing an opportunity to do something that is more than an immediate reward, like candy would be.

Dealing with doubt in children

When one begins to doubt any doctrine, whether intellectual or religious, he naturally conceives a dislike for any authority which disputes his ground, unless the authority is enforced by reasons which his own intellect is compelled to acknowledge as conclusive. Superior logic is the only authority which a questioning mind naturally receives with good grace. Hence, if you do not wish your child to hate the Bible, do not attempt to silence all his questions by the mere quotation of Scriptural texts, but first, calmly and kindly, lay bare the fallacy in his argument, and then show him, if you choose, how your own argument accords with Scripture."
Our Home - by Charles E. Sargent, M.A. 1899

Train your children to save with a penny

"A penny is a very small matter, yet the comfort of thousands of families depends upon the proper spending and saving of pennies. If a man allows the little pennies, the results of his hard work, to slip out of his fingers -- some to the beershop, some this way and that -- he will find that his life is little raised above one of mere animal drudgery. On the other hand, if he take care of the pennies -- putting some weekly into a benefit society or an insurance fund, others into a saving's bank, and confiding the rest to his wife to be carefully laid out, with a view to the comfortable maintenance and education of his family; he will soon find that this attention to small matters, will abundantly repay him, in increasing means, growing comfort at home and a mind comparatively free from fears as to the future. And if a working man have a high ambition and posses richness in spirit, -- a kind of wealth which far transcends all mere worldly possessions -- he may not only help himself, but be a profitable helper of others in his path through life."

So here is a practical idea for instilling this habit into your children; tell them that each time they find a penny you will double it, or it may be if you are able, you will give them a nickel for each penny that they find. In our world, there are many that will not stoop to pick up a penny. Let that slothfulness be your children's means to saving.

Standing before Kings

The proverbs of Solomon are full of wisdom as to the force of industry, and the use and abuse of money: - 'He that is slothful in work is brother to him that is a great waster.' 'Go to the ant you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.' 'Poverty, says the preacher, shall come upon the idler,
'as one that travelleth, and want as an armed man;' but of the industrious and upright, 'the hand of the diligent maketh rich.'
'The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.'
'Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings.' But above all, 'It is better to get wisdom than gold; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.'

Simple industry and thrift will go far towards making any person of ordinary working faculty comparatively independent in his means. Even a working man may be so, provided he will carefully husband his resources, and watch the little outlets of useless expenditure.
Samule Smiles, Money, its use and abuse

Do you want to be rich?

I think it’s a fair question; one which every one in America has asked themselves.
I’m not asking you if you are willing to sell your soul for riches but simply, do you want to be wealthy? Riches bring much power to do good, as well as evil.
All of us know of ministries doing wonderful things. They have the people ready, trained, equipped of God, but the one thing lacking is funds. Christians that have wealth support countless ministries that give sight to the blind, clothes to the naked, medicine to the infirm, as well as spread the Gospel throughout the world.
So, I’m asking, do you want to be wealthy? Wealth brings independence, a satisfaction that your family will be able to enjoy a comfortable home and weather life’s storms. I could go on and list countless other things that wealth brings without damning your soul.
So, I thought I would begin to post articles concerning the attainment of wealth the way Godly people through all ages have accomplished it.
These are the time tested, righteous pursuits of wealth that have worked in all generations. It will be worth our while to carefully consider what the wealthy say about the attainment of riches.

Securing Independence

To secure independence, the practice of simple economy is all that is necessary. Economy requires neither superior courage nor eminent virtue; it is satisfied with ordinary energy, and the capacity of average minds. Economy, at bottom, is but the spirit of order applied in the administration of domestic affairs; it means management, regularity, prudence, and the avoidance of waste. The spirit of economy was expressed by our Divine Master in the words, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing may be lost’. His omnipotence did not disdain the small things of life; and even while revealing His infinite power to the multitude, he taught the pregnant lesson of carefulness of which all stand so much in need.’