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I believe in one thing more than anything else. "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, except to love God, and to serve Him only"-Thomas Kempis

Monday, June 28, 2010

I have fallen in love...

With Lord Byron. Here is why. :)

She Walks in Beauty, by Lord Byron:



She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that 's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Its funny that I used to think that poetry was something a bit too silly and sappy for me, but now I can't get enough of it. About four years ago I started reading a lot of British poetry as a guilty pleasure. Then Robert Louis Stevenson poetry truly convinced me to appreciate poetry without shame. Slowly but surely I'm adding poets to my list of favorites, and Lord Byron has certainly secured a spot.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Just look away

There are horrors in this world my dear, darling child. Such pain comes from these and seeing you fret, well it just makes me cringe for I can fix this problem of yours.

I can see you now, you don't know what to do about the sorrow in which they live, but do not fear or tremble. More than anything do NOT go near the destruction, do not even glance towards the direction of their sorrow. They could pull you down. I fear you would become stuck there forever, and you, delicate girl, do not belong in such a place. I can take all this pain and confusion away from your eyes. I can give you a clear mind, pretty face and soft hands. I can make you a bed of constant comfort, and- my dear princess- I will build you a fine castle. All you have to do is look away. Look away from these horrors, my darling. When you go out on the town your carriage will rise so high; you won't even have to worry about seeing the slums of pain down below. Soon, so very soon dear child you will forget that they even exist. Your life will be soft. Your life will be smooth.

Just look away. Look away, child, and I will give you everything. The cost is small, so small. You could even say it has no size at all! Such a tiny sacrifice to give up for what you are getting in return, your highness. Oh, what a queen you shall become! Just turn your head darling, it will only cost a soul.


Friday, June 11, 2010

My Utmost- Oswald Chambers

Disclaimer: Again, this is mostly to help me remember something that interested me, but if you like it too then awesome!

I've heard a little bit here and there about the minister Oswald Chambers, but I never really read anything of his. So, today I ran across this somewhere online and its pretty cool to have his full text devotional My Utmost.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Nerd... I love this sentance.

The Funny-Man Who Repented, by Monteiro Lobato

"A merchant to whom he owed some money said to him one day amidst sputters of laughter, "You at least are amusing, not like Major Sourpuss, who lets his bills go unpaid with a frown." This left-handed compliment vexed our joker, more or less; but his debt amounted to fifteen milreis, and it seemed better to swallow the taunt. However, the memory of that prick stuck in his mind like a pin in the cushion of his self-respect."

I won't go in to an exhaustive analysis on this excerpt; you can make of it and relate to it as you will. I know can certainly relate to that statement and that is probably why I like it so much. It comes from a short story that I found in A World of Great Stories, a book I got at the library, that has 155 short stories from around the world (much as the name implies). This one represents the literature of Brazil. That last sentence is the type that any author would hope to write, I would think. I am in love with that sentence, because it is so telling and it sums up every nuance in one short play on words.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Google Alerts

Today my lovely sister, Nicole, showed me the joys of Google Alerts. If you don't know about it already, in short, Google Alerts is a system that basically sends you links related to topics that you would have put in a prior request for information.

Its a wonderful thing because I have been needing some kind of (convenient) venue or resource to better explore the things that I'm interested in, and this has been great so far! Today, for example, I was looking at this french blog and randomly clicked on a link to a different online publication called The Huffington Post.

As a life long religion major, it seems, of course I clicked in the religion section first. There were many articles that grabbed my interest, but this one with the title The Surprise of Being a Christian. I found this to be a beautiful article, and I can relate to it quite a bit. The author mentioned that he had to become a theologian in order to become a Christian, which seems very similar to how I came to Christianity, which was a refreshing discovery. That being said, it is a great article, but I laughed when I realized that the author was Stanley Haurwas, who also just happens to a professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity school, and the author of one of my Christian Ethics text books.

Small world? Apparently so. Thanks Google alerts!

This may not (and by that I mean probably won't) interest anyone other than myself, but
Google Alerts is great and you might find some interesting information if you check out those links! :) Not to mention that it will remind me to check them out when I undoubtedly forget about The Huffington Post and Google Alerts in a month.

In other News, I miss France:


Nice, France August 2009

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Brothers and Sisters

I want to live like every man is my brother, and every woman is my sister. How much differently would I treat each person if this were the case? How would I view their offensives against me and how much more would I yearn to respect and love them?