Diamond-cuts in the Rain

Why do I often use quotes from others?  Oh, the riches of the saints through the ages is not to be stored in a buried chest of treasure, but to be opened, each jewel held up to the light and admired for their vivid refraction of light and color and value.


And sometimes the diamond-cut draws blood, like this morning – convicting and laying open the areas of my failures with words so strong and true that they offer healing within the wounding balm of truth.


“The repose, the quiet balanced rest which marks our Lord’s perfected life, is intended to grow more and more steadfast in those who are truly His; not the repose of indolence, not the calm arising from absence of trial and lack of temptation, a mere accidental freedom from inward struggle or difficulty, but the repose which lives in the conquest of passion, in the crucifixion of self, in a subdued will, in the reconciliation of every thought with a perfected obedience, as the whole inner being, entrance in God, yields itself in delighted harmony with His perfect mind.  Such repose is attained through the continual progress of a life of grace, as it gradually overcomes the restlessness of nature, the excitements of self, the disturbance of temper or passion, the fruitless impatience of the will. –TT Carter


When I am misled into thinking it is my own service or sacrifice that accomplish something He intends:


Oftentimes it is difficult to see how certain promises of God are to be realized.  We have nothing to do with that whatever!  God keeps our hands off His promises quite as surely as He keep them off his stars. If he will not let us intermeddle with His planets, He will not ask us to have anything to do with the outworking and realization of His promises.  He asks that their fulfillment be left to Him; and afterwards He will challenge our own life as the witness and the answer, and confirmation of all that is gracious and all that is sure in the outworking of His words of promise.  –J. Parker


And lastly, sometimes things happen that bring me to a place where I wonder if I know anything at all of how to live the Christ-life, for I have failed at some crucial point of love:  


“Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.  And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.  But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.”  I Cor 8:1-3


Bit of a heap of varied thoughts and deep convictions on this very rainy day.  But even raindrops can glisten, and even under the overcast sky.

--overlooking the harbor of an ancient fishing village, northern Scotland