Commonplace Book

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.

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace”

(C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan Co., 1960, p. 160).

“Great souls have wills; feeble souls have only wishes.”

(Chinese proverb)

“Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will.”

(Joseph B Wirthlin, The Great Commandment, October Conference 2007)

“An optimist is someone who plants two acorns and buys a hammock.”

(Anonymous)

“May the dead rest in peace - and the living be ever mindful that whatever divides us, it, too, shall pass.”

(Kathleen Parker, The California fires remind us of our common humanity, Washington Post, November 16, 2018)

“The cavity created by the suffering through which we go becomes a receptacle for compensating blessings.”

(Gibran Khalil Gibran (1883-1931), Lebanese-American writer, poet, visual artist and Syrian nationalist.)

“Haste is the enemy of the Spirit.”

(Nathaniel R Payne. President. St Paul Temple)

“The Hebrew verb lehitpalel, meaning “to pray,” is reflexive, implying an action done to one- self. Literally, it means “to judge oneself.” It means, to escape from the prison of the self and see the world, including ourselves, from the outside. Prayer is where the relentless first person singular, the “I,” falls silent for a moment and we become aware that we are not the centre of the universe. There is a reality outside. That is a moment of transformation.”

(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, When the 'I' is Silent, Vayetse 5779. November 14, 2018)

“The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through, and let the distress of earlier hours—real or imagined—fall away in the abundance of the final reward. Don’t dwell on old issues or grievances—not toward yourself nor your neighbor nor even, I might add, toward this true and living Church. The majesty of your life, of your neighbor’s life, and of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be made manifest at the last day, even if such majesty is not always recognized by everyone in the early going. So don’t hyperventilate about something that happened at 9:00 in the morning when the grace of God is trying to reward you at 6:00 in the evening—whatever your labor arrangements have been through the day.”

(Jeffrey R Holland, The Laborers in the Vineyard, April Conference 2012)

“I learned about peaceful intensity. … I would sometimes recall a scriptural phrase I'd first heard [Elder Maxwell] quote: “But if not…” (Daniel 3:18) - meaning, we must do everything we can to make this work, and then if it doesn't, “it matters not” (Mosiah 13:9).”

(Bruce C Hafen, A Disciple's Life, the Autobiography of Neal A Maxwell, Deseret Book 2002, preface)

“Our prophets have focused not on the terror of the times in which they lived and not on the ominous elements of the latter days, in which we are all living, but they felt to speak of the opportunity and blessing, and above all the responsibility, to seize the privileges afforded us in this, the greatest of all dispensations.”

(Jeffrey R Holland, Terror, Triumph, and a Wedding Feast, BYU Devotional, September 12, 2004)

“Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.”

(Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet)

“This same special assurance can see each of us through all the seasons and circumstances of our lives. A universal God is actually involved with our small, individual universes of experience! In the midst of His vast dominions, yet He numbers us, knows us, and loves us perfectly. … We can wrongly charge God with that large portion of human misery which is actually caused by mortals’ failure to keep His commandments. Or, like Enoch, we can be intellectually meek enough to look and to accept the truths about God’s being there and about His personality and plans.”

(Neal A Maxwell, Yet Thou Art There, October Conference 1987)

“Leadership isn't about position. It's about who you are. …Leadership isn't about dominion, leadership is about service. … Leadership is about turning up at the top end of who we really are, … it starts with having a clear understanding of who we are and what we really stand for. … it's about listening and trying to identify what is lost. … Everything we really need to know about leadership was written down a long time ago. Maybe it's simply time to start listening.”

(Peter Anderton, Organizational Development Manager, 3M, TED Talk, TEDxDerby, May 21, 2016, Derby, Derbyshire, UK)

“I find it moving that Isaac, who underwent so many trials, from the binding when he was young, to the rivalry between his sons when he was old and blind, carries a name that means, “He will laugh.” Perhaps the name – given to him by God Himself before Isaac was born – means what the Psalm means when it says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with joy” (Ps. 126:5). Faith means the courage to persist through all the setbacks, all the grief, never giving up, never accepting defeat. For at the end, despite the opposition, the envy and the hate, lie the broad spaces, Reĥovot, and the laughter, Isaac: the serenity of the destination after the storms along the way.”

(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, The Courage of Persistence, Toldot 5779, November 7, 2018)

“Until I changed myself, I could not change others”

(Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, 1918-2013, revolutionary, political leader, philanthropist)

“Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage.”

(Neal A Maxwell, Notwithstanding My Weakness, October Conference 1976)