New Place

I handed in the keys to my old apartment today. Finally, I'm out. I've been moving very very slowly. I can attribute my slowness to having plenty of free time and being so close to the old place that I have no real motivation to get it all done in one fell swoop. But there's another reason why I've moved slowly. I kind of feel sentimental about the old place. Hey, I have very special memories of sleeping on the floor for several weeks there. I'd hate to say goodbye too quickly.

Despite feeling sentimental about my old place;I'm very happy about the new. Last night I did my usual prayer time which inevitably means I moved from a kneeling position to supine. I laid on the floor talking with God while looking at an oak tree from my top window and listening to the cicadas. Now there is happiness. I've been given the small gift of nature sounds.

Thank you Father, for small things: for being able to see the stars and hear the cicadas.

E.M. Bounds

When I was sixteen someone handed me a book about prayer by E.M.Bounds. Next to the Bible and the writings of Ellen White, Bounds has had the greatest impact on my spiritual life. Every time I read his writings on prayer, I yearn to pray more. Here are just two samples of his writing:

"The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. . . .What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer." from Power Through Prayer

"The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer, in one phase of its operation, is a disinfectant and a preventive. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil. Prayer is no fitful, shortlived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in the silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things.

God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.

That man is the most immortal who has done the most and the best praying. They are God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s vicegerents."

From Purpose in Prayer

If you want to read more of his works, you can access them online:

Last Words

I was in my twenties when my great-grandma died. She lived a long life unlike her husband who died in a car accident when he was fifty-six. Recently, my grandma was telling me about my great-grandfather's death. She told me that the night before he died he and his wife had made a bonfire, and while they sat around the bonfire together, he quoted this poem to my great-grandma:

"This little strip of light twixt night and night that we call today. If tomorrow never comes at all, at least we've had today."

Favorite comments of the week

My favorite conversations of this week.

My mom to my six-year old niece: Our foreheads are together in this picture.
My niece to my mom: But I don't have four heads.

My three-year old niece to my dad: Popo! I monkey.

Happiness

I woke up to the smell of pancakes and the sound of my family eating breakfast. Ahh..happiness. I'm spending several days with my grandma, parents, siblings, siblings' spouses, nieces, and nephew. We aren't doing much. Our mornings are lazy and our afternoons are spent mostly at the beach. I like this slowness and time together. I like that I get to go lizard hunting with my four-year old nephew, and have a nice conversation with my niece (she's almost thirteen now). I like relaxing in the water with everyone. (Even my 86-year old grandma got in the water.) I like trying to keep up with my brother on his swim (he's training for several triathlons right now), and I like helping my sis-in-law take pictures of her family (I feel like paparazzi--especially taking the huggy/kissy pictures--eoooh..j/k). Life is simple for me this week; simple and good. I'm blessed.