Bloogenes bloog.: Commencement Speech by Anne Lamott
I am honored and surprised that you asked me to speak today.
This must be a magical day for you. I wouldn’t know. I accidentally forgot to graduate from college. I meant to, 30 years ago, but things got away from me. I did graduate from high school, though — do I get a partial credit for that?…
"By far the greatest joy of my life has been my fellowship with Jesus.
Hearing Him speak to me, having Him guide me,
sensing His presence with me and His power through me.
This has been the highest pleasure of my life."
Billy Graham
"What makes a Christian a Christian is not perfection but forgiveness."
Max Lucado
"
No one has yet believed in God and the kingdom of God, no one has yet heard about the realm of the resurrected and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward to being released from bodily existence.
Whether we are young or old makes no difference. What are twenty or thirty or fifty years in the sight of God? And which of us knows how near he or she may already be to the goal? That life only really begins when it ends here on earth, that all that is here is only the prologue before the curtain goes up — that is for young and old alike to think about. Why are we so afraid when we think about death? Death is only dreadful for those who live in dread and fear of it. Death is not wild and terrible, if only we can be still and hold fast to God’s Word. Death is not bitter if we have not become bitter ourselves. Death is grace, the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in him. Death is mild, death is sweet and gentle; it beckons to us with heavenly power if only we realize that it is the gateway to our homeland, the tabernacle of joy, the everlasting kingdom of peace.
How do we know that dying is so dreadful? Who knows whether in our human fear and anguish we are only shivering and shuddering at the most glorious, heavenly, blessed event in the world?
Death is hell and night and cold if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death.
"Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1906-1945
“Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
How is it that I cannot live a day without food and water, and yet I can survive without His Word for days?
It’s crazy how thinking about Him brings me joy
I think about myself too much. Self-absorbed in my own thoughts, my desires, and my flaws that lead to disappointment and self-pity. No wonder I can’t taste His joy.
I am thankful that I am not satisfied. I am thankful I am disappointed in my life. Because in the disappointment I find the desperate desire for the better - a purpose-driven life that is less about me and more about Him.
God, the Provider, the Healer, the Prince of Peace.
Thinking about who He is (as the list goes on and on…), I do not close my eyes in the night with guilt and despair on seemingly meaningless days. There’s no time for that when you are trying to love Him and ponder on His love that I honestly have a hard time still understanding.
I am given yet another gift of a new day.
God, please help me choose to run for you, think about you, and love you more than yesterday. Help me fight for joy.
"Do you often feel lonely? Remember that you are receiving unchanging love."
Nick Vujicic
<Life Without Limits>
“Turn your life over to Christ today, and your life will never be the same.”
- Billy Graham
2 Corinthians 5:17
Asian At Heart: my philosophy homework. this gave me a lot to think about.
“ Language is a divinely given gift to facilitate a communion between God and humans that is both personal and cognitive. Any flight from reason and logic is a flight from reality. All who repudiate logic automatically cut themselves off from any possible knowledge of God and his creation.” (…
Image is what people think we are; integrity is what we really are.
- John Maxwell
Proverbs 28:18
