Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Commonplace Book

A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.


“Tension is who you think you should be - relaxation is who you are.”
(Kindness Rocks)

“By being what only we are, we contribute to humanity what only we can give.”
(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, A People that Dwells Alone, Balak 5778)
“Satan understands that women are Bad-A powerhouses who get crap done while leading others to do the same. If Satan can get us to focus on our appearance, whether in self-loathing or in a prideful way, he can distract us from becoming and developing into the forces for good.”
(Rosemary Card, CEO and founder of Q.Noor, from her book “Model Mormon”)
“Isn’t it wonderful that the name given by revelation to the restored Church binds together the two most important elements in each gospel covenant? First is the name Jesus Christ. This Church belongs to Him, and His sanctifying Atonement and covenants are the only pathway to salvation and exaltation. The second name refers to us: the Saints, or in other words, His witnesses and His disciples.”
(Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop, April Conference 2018)
From some “Tone of Voice” training I went through:

“Keep your dog and it's crap out of my yard!”
  vs
“Your dog. My yard. Let's work together to find a way to keep them apart.”
“If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
Albert Einstein
“The spirit world is not far away. Sometimes the veil between this life and the life beyond becomes very thin. Our loved ones who have passed on are not far from us. One great spiritual leader asked, “But where is the spirit world?” and then answered his own question. “It is here.” “Do [spirits] go beyond the boundaries of this organized earth? No, they do not. They are brought forth upon this earth, for the express purpose of inhabiting it to all eternity.” “… when the spirits leave their bodies they are in the presence of our Father and God; they are prepared then to see, hear and understand spiritual things. … If the Lord would permit it, and it was His will that it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes. …” (Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, pp. 367–69.)
“A wise man once said nothing.”
Proverb
“This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man's acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give—who does not often give—the warning, "Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!"
(Bleak House, Charles Dickens)
“If you can't fly, then run, if you can't run, then walk, if you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
(Martin Luther King Jr., Spelman College Museum April 1960, pp 10-11)
“... the villagers talked of the stars, the earth, the water, the sights and sounds of the world that were everlasting. She had been away for two years, but as she looked inside herself she found that the time was not a succession of years or seasons, but a single unit of rich experience and lessons learned.”
(Sacajawea's thoughts at the end of her trip with Lewis and Clark, “Sacajawea”, by Anna Lee Waldo, Avon Books 1980, page 686)
“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
“And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
“Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
“And he said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
“And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
“And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
“And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
“But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
“Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
“And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.
“And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
“And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”
(Luke 15)
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath”
(James 1:19)
“I am not perfect but I am here. Open. Present. Willing. Fully engaged.”
(Dr Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston)
“Eleos is the free gift for the forgiveness of sins and is related to the misery that sins brings. God's tender sense of our misery displays itself in His efforts to lessen and entirely remove it - efforts that are hindered and defeated only by man's continued perverseness.”
(Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible)

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