Category: Book quotes

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Memories, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

My Birthday Was Yesterday

Well it is saying something that I have outlived both of my parents. My Dad died really young of heart disease. I have outlived my mother by ten years!

This morning I awoke to my typical birthday weather, gloomy, drizzly but also unusually warm. The weather in my heart is good. I am looking for ways this year to please the Lord, my Lord Jesus, risen from the dead.

Instead of my typical morning devotions, I turned today to Thomas R. Kelley’s Testament of Devotion. This chapter is called Holy Obedience. He speaks of George Fox…”the insatiable God-hunger in him drove him from such mediocrity into a passionate quest for the real whole-wheat Bread of Life. The life that intends to be wholly obedient, wholly submissive, wholly listening, is astonishing in its completeness.” He goes on to say “Self is emptied into God, and God in-fills it. In glad, amazed humility we cast on Him our little lives in trusting obedience, in erect, serene, and smiling joy. Nothing else in all of heaven or earth counts so much as His will, His slightest wish, His faintest breathing. And holy obedience sets in, sensitive as a shadow, obedient as a shadow, selfless as a shadow. Not reluctantly but with ardor one longs to follow Him the second half (of the way of obedience).”

Ardor: great warmth of feeling; fervor. intense devotion; zeal. burning heat. Do we follow Him with ardor?

“Self is emptied into God and God fills it.”

 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Revelation 3:14-28 NIV

So I come before You, my Lord, on this my birthday. Left to myself I am always poor, naked, blind, pitiful and wretched. I cannot do Your will without Your indwelling Spirit to empower me. This coming year of my life I want to reflect Your life-giving whole wheat Bread of Life. I want my life to delight You. I desire immediate obedience to Your slightest wish, faintest breathing. May my ardor for You be fanned into a flame. Amen.

 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God

2 Timothy 1: 6a NIV

My family told the story that at my birth the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck. I was a ‘blue baby.’ They waited to see if I would “pink up.” When I recovered my father was so delighted he wanted my middle name to be Cherry! My mother made him compromise with Cheryl. Now I just want to follow God in obedience, full of His breath, doing His will.

Kelly wrote “holy obedience sets in, sensitive as a shadow, obedient as a shadow, selfless as a shadow.” What a tremendous image! A shadow, as in formed by the Son of God shining upon us, and we giving an outline that is totally dependent upon His light… He moves, shadow moves.

Oh to “be wholly obedient, wholly submissive, wholly listening.” Sensitive to His every desire. Can I do it? Will I take up the challenge for the entire year or drop it after a month or two? I will take it up and pray to complete it with God’s help! Will you try it also?

Posted on in Aging, Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Challenge, Cooking, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Remember this Artwork?

My writing this week began with a blank page as it always does, then sorrows and struggles of others, the sound of dry leaves, climate change and some poetry. How to sum that up? I think my newest t-shirt says it best with a quote from Mother Teresa, “Do small things with great love.”

How to shine the Light of the Lord in these situations? For those in sorrow and struggles, cook a meal if you can. Surprise someone with flowers and a slice of cake. Pray for their situations and the strength of their hearts. Remind them as you are enabled that the paths of the Lord “drip with abundance.”

Dry leaves falling upon dry leaves are about to end today as rain is forecast in our area. Then we will have dry leaves falling upon soggy leaves. And oh how we need that rain! Yes, the voice of the Lord is still here like the whisper of leaves upon leaves, that still small voice of love and encouragement, challenge and reproof. (1 Kings 19:12) Are you listening for His voice of instruction to you?

My reminders

I have returned to wearing this homemade bracelet. It reminds me that I am called to Constant, Yielded, Peaceful, Joyful Obedience to the Lord. When I am diligent to this He shines His light through me, usually when I am not even aware it is happening. Why is this important? As His servant and ambassador in this age of darkness, like Paul, I am to reflect His glory. My occupation is to give light to those around me, Light from the Son.

for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak

Ephesians 6:20

When the bracelet annoys me, catches upon something or hinders the use of my wrist my practice is to make that draw my attention back to Christ. Am I listening? Am I doing the last thing He asked of me? Is the Trinity trying to get my attention right now? Am I humble enough to yield and to listen? Will I obey Him?

Some say they do not know what God wants them to do. If you keep praying and asking, the Holy Spirit is quite capable to make the Father’s will clear to you. You must wait and listen. When you receive instruction obey as much of that instruction as you are able. You might mess it up and make a mistake. We all do that. Our God is able to clean up our mistakes and make the most of our efforts.

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

2 John 1:6 NIV

I pray you will use the empty page, the empty canvas of your life to do works of His desiring. Though you might not be able to see what is being created, He does and He will be careful to keep your heart until the day of His coming. Work diligently, as unto God. He reads your heart and knows your efforts on His behalf.

Ask Him, “what would bring pleasure to You today, Lord?” Then set out to delight your Lord with all of your heart!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Beagle, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Humor, Nature

Priceless Quote

I first read this quote by Rainer Marie Rilke in the book by Ben Palpant entitled “Letters from the Mountain.”

“Most experiences are unsayable.” There are mysterious existences whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life.

Rilke and Ben Palpant

There is a sound of leaves falling upon leaves that is so indescribable. I cannot imagine being able to mimic that sound. More than just a rustling, shifting, crunching. Nary a squirrel can approach our deck undetected right now! Our once green grass is now a carpet of yellow, orange, brown and red.

I used the blower to clear off the deck. 24 hours later it looked like this!

Can you see the carpet of leaves on the lawn?

How could I possibly capture the sound of dry leaves upon dry leaves with only words? How would you say it?

Below is a mighty sweet gum tree growing in the woods of Eastfork State Park.

And then there was this artsy photo of sun through a sweet gum leaf which the mighty beagle messed up by walking in front of the camera.

Silly Lucky, no artistic sense!

You crown the year with Your goodness,
And Your paths drip with abundance.
They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,
And the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, they also sing.

Psalm 65:11 NKJV
Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Memories, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

Battle, War, Skirmish

Growing up I knew little about warfare. In the neighborhood the girls were relegated to being nurses when the boys played battle games. I never got that. I could make sounds with my mouth like guns as well and sometimes better than the boys could!

I understood my Dad had been a Naval flagman in World War 2. I did not understand what he did during the war until years later when I ordered his service records from the Navy. He was disappointed that his poor health kept him out of the Korean War.

Then I came to religion and the life of faith described so often as warfare. The Charismatic movement sometimes went a little overboard seeing a demon behind every bush. At least they were aware that we are under attack. All the time. I believe complacency just gives the demons more ground in our lives. Too much attention to the devil weakens us by distracting us from the power of Jesus Christ our Lord and the strength of the indwelling Holy Spirit, His greatest gift to us.

Hand in hand with my Bible I go to the dictionary for help in understanding.

Skirmish: an episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting, especially between small or outlying parts of armies or fleets.

Battle:

1. (Military) a fight between large armed forces; military or naval engagement; combat

2. conflict; contention; struggle

3. (Military) do battle give battle join battle to start fighting

Narnia Preparing for Battle Scene

I thought this was well worded truth about the faith life.

Faith is war.

It’s a fight. A battle. Faith is hard. It’s a fight to trust God when you can’t see him. It’s a fight to believe God is in control when all around us screams life has derailed. It’s a battle to thank Jesus that his steadfast love never ceases and his mercies are new every morning in the midst of pain and sadness. It’s a fight to believe Scripture rather than our eyes and circumstances. It’s a fight to forgive and resist bitterness and believe Jesus can change others’ hearts. It’s straining and wrestling to rejoice always. It’s a struggle to believe that in the end, God will work all this out for our good. To believe that Jesus will have the final word. To believe our sufferings are producing an eternal weight of glory. Faith is a fight to believe that following Jesus is better than sin.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/blogs/mark-altrogge/faith-is-war.html

Throughout the Bible there are references to battle. Repeatedly. Most of us go on our way as if those references do not relate to us. 2022 is rife with warfare, especially against those who love Christ Jesus. I pray you will live with your eyes wide open to this phenomenon.

When the time rolls around for our small group to meet, Bob and I experience some of this warfare. He and I co-lead the study and suddenly there will be friction between us, conflict all around us, a multitude of things against us distracting us from Jesus.

Have you experienced this sort of oppression from the enemy of your soul? I have found the best weapon against oppression is to recognize what is happening, push back against the darkness, and return to praising the God of heaven and earth. Psalm 22 says God inhabits the praises of His people. Even if the King James version has the translation slightly wrong we can be assured that Lord is with us and through His resurrection power the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We do not need to relinquish ourselves to the enemy in the heat of battle. Read the book of Revelation and you will learn OUR GOD WINS. Colossians 2:14 declares that we have been freed from our sin and shame.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:13-15 NIV

Battles and skirmishes come often to test what we truly believe. I believe the Truth of the Word that declares God wins! Do not be complacent.

In 1975 I thought someone should update the weapons of our warfare with modern day images. Have a person march into the church with riot gear on and other accoutrements of battle. Now in 2022 that person might get shot if the security force of the congregation was not made aware of what the teaching plan entailed. Imagine the weapons however best to encourage you to fight the good fight of faith and not grow complacent or defeated in your faith.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Have You Read These?

{First photo from Unsplash, yoshua girl} Bob and I enjoy finding an author we like who has written an abundance of books. Then we try to work our way through the books in their order of publication. One such author is Louise Penny. The books are usually set in a small town named Three Pines. Inspector Gamache and his fellow Sûreté du Québec officers speak French Canadian phrases which Bob adores and I translate in my own way.

Louise Penny weaves wisdom through her writings. There are 17 books in this series so far. I came across this quote recently and had to share it.

He tried not to go to the worst possible conclusion. That they were down because everyone who might communicate was down.

No. He forced his mind away from that. Stick with the simple facts. He knew how catastrophic a rampant imagination, driven by fear, could be.

How The Light Gets In, Louise Penny

Fear occurs about 1,025 in the Bible and first appears in Genesis 3. Fear has been with us a very long time. Fear not or be not afraid appear many times (unlikely the 365 count is accurate according to most scholars).

Regardless, we are prone to fear, even Louis Penny knows, and we are told not to go there. Fear not, Be not afraid. It is something we have a choice about.

When did you recently force your mind away from the worst possible conclusion? Were you able to take those thoughts captive to Christ Jesus?

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

This is a discipline that truly takes practice. We must learn not to let ‘awfulizing’ become the way we think. We must turn our thoughts and our ways to His thoughts and ways. You can likely tell by my catching and quoting this from a fictional novel that I have been at this practice for a while. No, I have not mastered it, but like my other spiritual disciplines it does help me grow closer to Jesus.

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Faith, Music, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Ben Palpant

Remember I told you that Zephaniah says “The Lord sings over you? Reading a poem by Ben Palpant I came across this stanza:

Sing to me, O my troubadour,
Let your songs echo
In the halls of my loneliness,
Even my shame,
So that I may sing back
and, perhaps, learn by heart.
Perhaps.

"Bright Fire" by Ben Palpant Sojourner Songs

I love his idea that he “may sing back and, perhaps, learn by heart.” I resisted piano lessons as a child because I could hear the music and play many melodies ‘by ear.’ And that is how I read this stanza of Palpant’s poem. I want to hear the songs of God and learn to play them by ear….

Help me sing those melodies back to You, my Lord. Help me sing those melodies to myself in times of struggle or discouragement. Remind me of Your holy music.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Writing Life

Best Laid Plans

Well the new computer said I had to restart to install updates. I hit the button and went off to eat breakfast. I really wanted an early start on writing Have had so many interrupted writing days lately. Wanted to get ahead for when we travel next month.

Came back after breakfast and still spinning though it said 100% complete. Started a load of wash. Still spinning. Updated paper journal. Still spinning. By now I was getting aggravated (one of my mom’s favorite words) . Over 45 minutes had passed.

Salvador Dali’s Melting CLock

At Bob’s suggestion asked online what the deal is. Seems Windows 11 is having massive trouble with these updates. Well that does not help me WRITE TODAY!! Turned off computer. When I turned it back on updates started all over. At the moment 63%. So here I am writing on the laptop. Perhaps this is planned practice for when we travel?

Then I thought of this quote and found it on https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-emotional-footprint/201602/man-plans-and-god-laughs

“Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” is an old Yiddish adage meaning, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.” Despite our most careful planning, the Road of Life is unpredictable.

Saul Levine, M.D.

Things will have to be cleaned up on this post for certain! And then updates worked and I am back on the desktop. Yikes. I am not in charge of this blog. Each day I give it over to the Lord. I ask Him to bless the content and the readers, that is you!

We all get frustrated and irritable when things do not go our way. My goal is to shorten the time when this happens and get back to putting my attention upon Jesus as quickly as possible. As Thomas R. Kelly wrote,

Lapses and forgettings are so frequent. When you catch yourself again, lose no time in self-recriminations, but breath a silent prayer for forgiveness and begin again, just where you are.

The Light Within

Would you try that right now? Read the quote above and give yourself a moment to do it. Breath a silent prayer and begin again with Him who loves you best.

Offer this broken worship to Him and say: “This is what I am except Thou aid me.”

The Light Within

I usually pray, “Left to myself I will always mess it up.” Jesus said, “Of myself I can do nothing.” John 5:30a

Help me remember, Lord

As lawn guys go thundering past my window I pray you will keep me focused upon You, Lord God. Help me stay in Your Presence regardless of what the day brings or does not bring. I agree with Kelly, “we are owned men and women.” Have Your own way in and through me. Amen.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Family, Just do it, Listen, Music, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

Known and Unknown

I believe one reason we fear silence and stillness is we do not want to know ourselves and what God has to say about us. If we could only trust Him in a small way we would learn that He loves us more than we love ourselves. In fact, He treasures and adores us.

The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing

Zephaniah 3:17 NRSV
Stefan Kunze Upsplash

The writings of Oswald Chambers contained in the book noted below were excerpted from articles published by God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. The articles were taken from his classroom lectures and Bible studies and published in the school’s periodical God’s Revivalist.

What does the Bible mean when it says to be an example to the flock of God? You must be a walking example of what you believe, in every moment of your life, known and unknown. You must bear the scrutiny of God until you prove that you are indeed a specimen of what He can do. Then He will send you out to disciple all nations.

Oswald Chambers, September 18 selection from “Devotions for a Deeper Life”

Every moment known and unknown. Things done in secret. I do not think this refers just to shameful things. Our deepest wounds are often kept private. The healing the Lord may give from those wounds is also usually given in private. The deep formation of a disciple usually takes place in private.

But whenever you pray, enter into your inner room and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6 NIV

Your Father who sees in secret. He hears every whisper or shout of a prayer. Your Father knows you inside and out. He will not require that you share with others what He does in your secret place of prayer. There may however, come a time when you want to shout His work from the rooftops.

Matt Hanns Upsplash

Dietrich Bonhoeffer captured my attention writing in The Cost of Discipleship when he emphasized that we each walk alone with God.

Every man is called separately and must follow alone. 

Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, Discipleship and the Individual

Many of us admire other Christians but we know little or nothing about what it takes for them to be public Christians. We have no clue what happens between them and the Trinity in private. No idea the depth of their wounds or the strength of the healing times the Lord has sent to them. All most often occur in private.

You interact with your Father in a private place, even if you are kneeling in a sanctuary packed with other people. We can share our experiences with others but we are essentially alone with Christ in our walk. Yes, He encourages fellowship with those who are like minded, but in the final analysis we are each alone with Him. He reads our heart. He corrects our course. He convicts us when we go astray. He gives us His righteousness. He suffered and died for our salvation and for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame and sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 NRSV)

Public, private, the deepest things occur in a private place with your Holy Trinity God.

Steffany Gretzinger in her song “Forever Amen” sums it up for me. “I was made to love You. Let me hear the sound of Your voice…”

I would strongly encourage you that when you hear the sound of His voice, go running to a quiet place. Listen up! For unlike human parents, the Father does not waste His breath. He speaks to us with power, love, meaning and transformative powers.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Poetry, politics, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Fifth Grade Book Learning

At times I entertain myself reading Junior Fiction, quick stories told on a simple level about life with specific themes. Number the Stars is the book one Fifth Grade class is reading this year. I decided to read it, too. As the cover reads, “Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it’s now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town.” There is nothing I know less about than that era in Copenhagen so I found the story interesting.

Copyrighted in 1989 by Lois Lowry it is a great quick story. This book also won a John Newberry Yearling medal. The author researched part of the book reading of the Resistance leaders in Denmark. She came across an account of a young man named Kim Malthe-Brunn, eventually captured and executed by the Nazis when he was only twenty-one years old. I found the paragraph written ‘by that young man, in a letter to his mother, the night before he was put to death’ as a great challenge to American thinking today.

…and I want you all to remember – that you must not dream yourselves back to the times before the war, but the dream for you all, young and old, must be to create an ideal of human decency, and not a narrow-minded and prejudiced one. That is the great gift our country hungers for, something every little peasant boy can look forward to, and with pleasure feel he is a part of – something he can work and fight for..

Kim Malthe-Brunn

Yes, that in 2022 America might create a country of human decency! Lois Lowry continued

Surely that gift – the gift of a world of human decency – is the one that all countries hunger for still. I hope that this story of Denmark, and its people, will remind us all that such a world is possible.

Afterword, Number the Stars

It is possible. We must all strive for that world to come into being. We must adjust our individual attitudes to be as inclusive as possible to others who seem different from us. Just think, the tattooed, the rich, the pierced, the old, the poor, the young, the infirm, those who worship in ways other than ours, the dark and the light skinned, the olive and red skinned, the ones with interesting eyes that do not run in our family, the left, the right, the indifferent, those who seem invisible in our circles. The world contains so much that we do not understand. Rather than shame, blame and accuse those who are different, can we make a world of decency where they are simply allowed to be as they are without our criticism and attempts to change them to be like us? “An ideal of human decency, and not a narrow-minded and prejudiced one.” The Bible also has much we do not understand. My intention here is not to offend anyone. This is solely my opinion.

How will we answer the Great Shepherd when we face Him?

I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must also bring them together, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.

John 10:16 CEV

We speculate on much of the meaning of Scripture. I, too, am uncertain of the meaning at times. Repeatedly we conjecture the meaning and then it is as if the Holy Spirit shows a vast swath of the church an enlightened meaning. I do not presume to understand John 10:16 thoroughly. I am, however, open to the instruction of the Spirit to teach me and show me what the words recorded as having been said by Jesus my Lord mean. 

The Divine Image
William Blake - 1757-1827


To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
All pray in their distress:
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
Is God, our father dear:
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
Is Man, his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face:
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew.
Where Mercy, Love, & Pity dwell,
There God is dwelling too.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Wisdom from W. Phillip Keller

“I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Actually what is referred to by “house” is the family or household or flock of the Good Shepherd. The sheep is so deeply satisfied with the flock to which it belongs, with the ownership of this particular shepherd, that it has no wish to change whatever.

Bragging to its less fortunate neighbors on the other side of the fence, it boasts about the wonderful year it has had and its complete confidence in its owner.

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23
Simply concentrate on being completely devoted to Christ, follow Him closely

W. Phillip Keller has challenged our small group of neighborhood women over the summer as we read and discussed this book together. Every chapter offered us something to ponder and consider in our own lives. These ending passages especially spoke to me. I have been pondering for some time how the Old Testament writers declared the goodness of God. Do I do the same?

Sometimes I feel we Christians should be much more like this. We should be proud to belong to Christ. Why shouldn’t we feel free to boast to others of how good our Shepherd is? How glad we should be to look back and recall all the amazing ways in which He has provided for our welfare. We should delight to describe, in detail, the hard experiences through which He has brought us. And we should be eager and quick to tell of our confidence in Christ. We should be bold to state fearlessly that we are so glad we are His. By the contentment and serenity of our lives we should show what a distinct advantage it is to be a member of His ‘household,” of His flock.

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23

These passages struck me. So many think of Christians as judgemental and hypocritical. What if we followed Keller’s wisdom and let them see our contentment and joy?

But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you;

1 Peter 3:15 NRSV

Hope, contentment, joy within you. Let it show on the outside. Don’t keep it a secret. Focus first on your own obedience to Christ, not on the failings of others. Be willing to sweetly tell others what makes you so hopeful and contented.

A few weeks ago I mentioned the Pastor J. B. Phillips. Are you aware he wrote a translation of the New Testament? The following is a passage from it.

After all, who in the ordinary way is likely to injure you for being enthusiastic for good? And if it should happen that you suffer “for righteousness’ sake”, that is a privilege. You need neither fear their threats nor worry about them; simply concentrate on being completely devoted to Christ in your hearts. Be ready at any time to give a quiet and reverent answer to any man who wants a reason for the hope that you have within you. Make sure that your conscience is perfectly clear, so that if men should speak slanderously of you as rogues they may come to feel ashamed of themselves for libelling your good Christian behaviour.

1 Peter 3:14-16 J. B. Phillips New Testament

As part of His flock we have so much to be grateful for and so much to learn! “Ready at any time to give a quiet and reverent answer … for the reason for the hope you have within you.”

Are you ready?