from all lesser loves and loyalties.
this morning during my devotions i did something i often like to do, leaf back through my journal and look for themes. it seems that over the last two months in particular god has been speaking to me about two things: our continual need of liberation from anxiety and self-importance.
here are some lines i've gathered in my 'married' journal:
"this evening i spent in lover's lane. how beautiful it was - green and alluring and beckoning! i had been tired and discouraged and sick at heart before i went... and it stole away the heartsickness, giving peace and newness of life." - l.m. montgomery, august 1, 1909 (green gables, pei)
“so much talk so much noise strangling all stillness so I can no longer hear the voice of god whisper to me in the silence…” - jewel, “the slow migration of glaciers”
“all the manor residents watched television day and night informed to the eyeballs like everyone else and rushed for time, toward what end no one asked… even dying, they still held themselves in the highest regard. Lou would have to watch herself. for this way of thinking began to look like human nature – as if each person of two or three billion would spend his last vital drop to sustain his self-importance.” - annie dillard, “the maytrees”
“there is all this love but nowhere for it to grow each second continually devours the next and we’re moving too fast for it to fasten its roots to the wind.” - jewel, “the road”
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and in response to all this i pray:
“dear Lord, I know that if I do not love You with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength, I shall love something else with all my heart, and mind and soul and strength. grant that by loving You first I may be liberated from all lesser loves and loyalties and have you as my first love, my chief good and my final joy.” - the oxford book of prayer
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