Five Quotes, vol. xix

book box spotted in Amboise, France

It's been a whirlwind of a week for our household beginning with a full day Sunday and then leaving Monday morning for K.J. to begin his cycling challenge of 400 km in 4 days. 

I read an article a few months ago about why time during the lock-down for COVID-19 seemed to pass so quickly for so many.  It explained how when we have the same experiences each day, the days run together because our brains aren't processing any new information, but when we have new experiences time seems to stretch out.  I have definitely experienced that sense of time stretching out this week as we slept in a new place every night and I drove unfamiliar roads and navigated new cities each day.  Last Friday feels like a year ago.

There hasn't been loads of time for reading this week, but there have been a few minutes each morning with a novel and a few chapters of the thoughtful companionship of The Next Right Thing book.  

"I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief."

- from The Peace of Wild Things, Wendell Berry

"That's an appropriate way to handle yourself in a storm:  take cover and wait for it to pass over.  But it's possible to live with the dread of a storm even when the sky is clear without a threat of rain.  It's possible to take cover even when there's nothing to take cover from, except for a heavy idea or a recurring thought in the night."

- The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman

"The disciples traveling with Jesus most likely thought the goal that day was to get from one place to another.  In that moment, in the way God always does, he made the side of the road center stage.  He took what they thought was a footnote and made it a headline, a side-of-the-road detour in the upside-down kingdom of God."

- The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman

"Bartimaeus didn't say, 'I have to regain my sight or else.'  He simply said that was what he wanted, and he left the next step to Jesus.  Desire is only toxic when we demand our desires be satisfied on our terms and in our timing.  Knowing what we want and getting what we want are not necessarily the same thing."

- The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman

"Every yes you say affects every person who lives in your house.  Knowing what you want is an automatic filter to help you say yes to the things you've already predecided matter, and to let the rest fall gently away."

- The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman