Wings

Let us be like a bird for a moment perched

on a frail branch while he sings;

though he feels it bend, yet he sings his song,

knowing he has wings.

— Victor Hugo

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Truth and beauty

The pursuit

of truth and beauty

is a sphere of activity

in which we are permitted

to remain children

all our lives.

— Albert Einstein

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Faith

I have closed the door on doubt.

I will go by what light I can find,

and hold up my hands

and reach them out.

— Irene Pettit McKeehan

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Smile wrinkles

The wrinkles on my grandmother’s face were beautiful. When “Mema” laughed, all the lines on her face curved upward, like a hundred smiles. Now that I’m getting on in years, I often think of Mema. Her wrinkles chronicled the wisdom she had gained from life. In her younger years, she lost the family farm, her home, my grandfather’s income, and her soldier son. But she never lost her faith. Though life was hard, God made her strong on the inside. In here older years, she was the wise matriarch of our family. She was the most joyful person we knew. We should wear wrinkles like smiles. We’ve earned them.

— Nancy Jo Sullivan, 2015 A Book of Grace-Filled Days, p. 244

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Gentle help

Sweet souls around us watch us still,

press nearer to our side;

into our thoughts, into our prayers,

with gentle helpings glide.

— Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Faith, hope and love

Faith goes up the stairs

that love has made

and looks out of the windows

which hope has opened.

— Charles H. Spurgeon

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God calling

Sometimes we are called to wait upon God. Other times, we must move “in haste,” as Mary did. Today, think about the call God makes in your life. Are you being instructed to wait? Or is it time to move in haste?

— Nancy Jo Sullivan, 2015 A Book of Grace-Filled Days, p. 386

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