I'm reading through the Anne of Green Gables series and really enjoying it. I have come across quite a few quotes that I want to write in my journal but I'm usually reading in bed before going to sleep and don't have any way to mark them close at hand. Last night,for a change, I did have a pen on my nightstand. This quote is regarding one of Anne's friends who is dying (from Anne of the Island).
"When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different- something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her. The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place, must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth. "
This put me in mind of many things. Especially my friends who just lost many "sweet and excellent little things of life". I'm thankful that those things have not been what they have lived for. They have spent time seeking higher things. Their unselfish service has come back to them in the giving of help after their hardship of losing so much. Here they are, just a week after the fire, and many, many things have already been replaced. Some things will not be able to be replaced, of course. The reason they can not be replaced is because their value did not lie in the objects themselves, but in the fact that they represented bigger things in life - relationships and special moments shared with others. I know what they are going through is difficult, but not nearly so difficult as it would have been had they lived for those things.
It is true...the life of heaven must be begun here on earth.
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3 comments:
I love the Anne quote, too.
Let me know how your daughter's week went when she gets back! I tried to go to L'Abri, Switzerland in Spring of 1984, but that is when Mr. Schaeffer was very ill at the end of his life. I went to Switzerland anyway (from Germany) in the summer. Studying and traveling with Schaeffer readers solidified the course of my life substantially.
Thanks for stopping by the booksncoffee-haus!
Javamom
Very well said and so true. Just as the relationship that we are promised to have with Jesus Christ does not have to begin when we get to Heaven, but can happen here on earth. We can live a bit of Heaven here on earth if we have the relationship with Jesus that He desires.
Love the post!
I followed your link from AO.
I've subscribed -- enjoyed reading your blog.
Praise God your friends have friends like you. Isn't it amazing how the Holy Spirit works, in having your daughter fetch the shoes at just the right time. We serve a living God.
Jennifer
http://gabbygwenhwyfar.blogspot.com/
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