Tuesday, January 12, 2021. Reading Roundup

I’m going to call this feature the “Weekly Reading Roundup.” That way I get to use alliteration, even if I can’t use the word Tuesday with it (like Monday Musings, Watercolor Wednesdays and Friday Fiction). Now, I still need to come up with something for Thursdays… Thursday Thoughts?

Whatever.

January 12 Reading Roundup:

Dorothy Sayers, The Five Red Herrings, p. 13

(As Lord Peter Wimsey heads out to take a look at a dead body that turned up where he was vacationing) “…and with a sky full of bright sun and rolling cloud banks, hedges filled with flowers, a well-made road, a lively engine and the prospect of a good corpse at the end of it, Lord Peter’s cup of happiness was full. He was a man who loved simple pleasures.”

That just made me laugh.

Martin Luther, quoted by Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be a Woman

“…It is said that it takes a bold man to venture to take a wife. What you need above all else then, is to be encouraged, admonished, urged, incited and made bold. Why should you delay, my dear and reverend sir, and continue to weigh the matter in your mind? …Stop thinking about it and go to it right merrily. Your body demands it, God wills it, and drives you to it… It is best to comply with all our senses as soon as possible and give ourselves to God’s Word and work in whatever He wishes us to do.”

Know any young men that you’d like to have read that? I do!

Alastair Groves and Winston Smith, Untangling Emotions, from the Chapter called “Engaging Fear”

“Fear, whether mild uneasiness or abject terror, has a simple message: something you value is under threat. …Fear points directly to what we treasure.”

“Fear is a notorious exaggerator and false prophet of doom.”

“…every fear brought to the Lord, every anxiety or terror weathered under the shelter of his wings, reinforces our choice to trust. This means that even the smallest acts of faith, in God’s mercy, are self-perpetuating.”

I underlined a LOT more in that chapter, but didn’t want to bore you. This book has been really helpful to me, as sometimes I feel simply awash in emotions and often have trouble understanding where they come from and how to manage them in a godly way that neither abhors, ignores nor coddles them. Really good stuff.

Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart

“The world cannot fathom strength proceeding from weakness, gain proceeding from loss, or power from meekness.”

True that.

Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, excerpt from #279

Tie the Strings to my Life, Lord,
Then, I am ready to go!
Just a look at the Horses –
Rapid! That will do!

That made me think of Hebrews 12:1, which says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Just for sake of quirkiness, I think I’ll end these posts with a something from my Paper app.

There you have it!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning, while underlining things for next week’s Reading Roundup.