Which of all my important nothings
shall I tell you first?
Jane Austen (in correspondence)

I believe I should adopt this as my correspondence motto, for this phrase accurately describes most of my letter writing.

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.
Robert Frost

I love that so much.

Believe in the darkness
what you have seen in the light.
Lilias Trotter

Yes and amen!

The truth shall make you odd.
Flannery O’Connor

Flannery, that made me chuckle. It certainly made you odd, and although I hesitate to say it, the truth has made me odd as well. Sometimes knowing and speaking the truth makes us uncomfortable people to be around.

Wild is the music of the autumnal winds
amongst the faded woods.
William Wordsworth

I just want to read that one over and over.

This post of important nothings will never suspect what might happen to it in the morning.

Well, can you?

Some words for you this week:

Man is certainly stark mad.
He cannot make a worm
and yet he will be making gods
by the dozens.
Montaigne

It’s a funny thought, isn’t it? We who cannot make a low creature like a worm persist in thinking we can make gods.

The lowest ebb
is the turn of the tide.
Longfellow

Good old Henry Wadsworth. Tuck that one away for when you are at the lowest ebb. The tide is about to turn!

Courage is what it takes
to stand up and speak;
courage is also what it takes
to sit down and listen.
Churchill

Courage to speak; courage to listen. Never thought about courage perhaps being needed to “sit down and listen.” Thoughts?

The difference between
the right word
and the almost right word
is like the difference
between lightning
and the lightning bug.
Mark Twain

When the kids were in high school, they used a literature course called “Lightning Lit,” the name of which was based on that quote.

For God has not given us
a spirit of fear,
but of power
and of love
and of a sound mind.
St. Paul, 2 Timothy 1:7

Remember this! (I’m telling myself)

This worm of a post will be deleted in the morning.

‘Twas a dark and rainy day today. Time to let some sunshine in…

For You will light my lamp;
The LORD will enlighten my darkness.
Psalm 18:28

I long to accomplish a great and noble task,
but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks
as if they were great and noble.
Helen Keller

Deep in their roots,
all flowers keep the light.
Theodore Roethke

A complaining spirit can make unhappiness out of anything,
and a long-suffering patience can find joy anywhere.
Douglas Wilson

But the secret to joy
is to keep seeking God
where we doubt He is.
Ann Voskamp

The morns are meeker than they were –
The nuts are getting brown –
The berry’s cheek is plumper –
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf –
The field a scarlet gown –
Lest I sh’d be old-fashioned
I’ll put a trinket on.
Emily Dickinson

The blog is meeker than it was…time to put a trinket on or delete this in the morning.

People say and write interesting things. Profound things. Funny things. Memorable things. Inspiring things. Whenever I copy a quote into my commonplace book, I’m aware that those few things I come across are just the teeny tiny tip of a very large iceberg. Here are a few more.

Stories give us something concrete to visualize: it is one thing to be told that bravery is important; it is another to see Frodo stand at the Council of Elrond and volunteer to take the Ring into Mordor. We need stories to show us what the good life looks like.
Leslie Anne Bustard, Strong Allies

So true. I remember reading The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew as a child. It made me want to be a better daughter and sibling more than any number of lectures could have.

I have now concentrated all my prayers into one,
and that prayer is this,
that I may die to self
and
live wholly to Him.
C.H. Spurgeon

Why use a lot of words when you can distill it all into one simple prayer?

The church is not a club or a content platform.
It is the miracle of bones coming together,
joints connecting,
breath entering dry lungs.
The Spirit does not hover over individual hearts
like vapor over isolated tea cups.
He fills a body.
A living, awkward, breathing, bruised body.
And when the body gathers,
Christ is present in a way that He is not
when you are alone.
Pastor Rich Bitterman

What do you think?

And now, in honor of Voddie Baucham (1969-2025):

We cannot continue to send our children
to Caesar for their education
and be surprised
when they come home as Romans.
Voddie Baucham

Sometimes God is glorified
when sick saints get well.
But more often than not,
God is glorified
when sick saints die well.
Voddie Baucham

This is another brother in Christ that I look forward to meeting in glory. Rest in peace, Pastor Baucham.

I’d love for you to share some quotes in the comments section that caught your eye and made you think.

If I told you that I was going to delete this in the morning, would you believe me?

More quotes to ponder:

Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry,
For anger rests in the bosom of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:9

Do not spoil the wonder with haste!
JRR Tolkien

Lots of reasons not to be hasty, apparently.

If I find in myself a desire
which no experience in this world
can satisfy,
the most probable explanation
is that I was made
for another world.
CS Lewis

Every experience God gives us
is the perfect preparation
for the future only He can see.
Corrie Ten Boom

Comparison
is the thief
of joy.
Theodore Roosevelt

Nobody ever outgrows Scripture;
the book widens and deepens
with our years.
Charles Spurgeon

That ought to be enough to chew on for now. Get those brain cells working!

This is the part where I say I will probably delete this in the morning. There – I said it.

More quotes to ponder…

When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird.
When I fall,
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.
Wendell Berry

The summer has been splendid,
but it has lasted long enough.
This morning, I viewed the falling leaves
with cheerfulness.
A.A. Milne

Don’t ever imagine that anything is too small to pray about.
If it concerns you, it concerns God.
Elisabeth Elliot

O bed! O bed! O delicious bed!
That heaven on earth to weary head!
Thomas Hood

I wonder many times that a child of God
should ever have a sad heart,
considering what their Lord
is preparing for them.
Samuel Rutherford

O blog! O blog! O deleting blog! …in the morning

I’ve been going through a dry spell with my own writing, but I can still share things that others have written or said that are worth note. Take heed and be of good cheer, friends.

“All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness.” Psalm 25:1
So your path with its unexplained sorrow, and mine with its unexplained sharp flints and briers, and both with their unexpected perplexity of guidance, their sheer mystery, are just lovingkindness, nothing else.
Amy Carmichael

Glory is the weighty goodness of a thing being and doing what it was made by God to be and do.
Brian Sauve, Haunted Cosmos p. 173

Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sin. That sin will never stand firm which is heartily prayed against.
J.C. Ryle

It’s not the load that breaks you down.
It’s the way you carry it.
C.S. Lewis

And in honor of Charlie Kirk:

When you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to want to commit violence against that group. What we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have reasonable disagreement where violence is not an option.

You can tell a lot about a man based on the enemies you earn.

I want to be remembered for the courage of my faith.

Charlie Kirk

That’s the way I’ll remember him. Rest in peace, my brother in Christ.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning…