"Story was painkiller." L'Engle tells stories of people that were physically hurt, but yet were relieved of their pain when people were reading and telling stories. I think hearing about someone's "painkiller" says a lot about who they are. Sometimes in our world today we hear people talking about these "painkillers" as their "escapes." I sometimes use this too. Every time that I am going through something painful - not necessarily physical, but more mental, emotional, or spiritual - I want to be playing volleyball. If there is some kind of problem in my life, the only thing that I want to do is go to the gym and hit some volleyballs. Another way that I take our stress is by drawing or painting! even though I am TERRIBLE at both of those. But I think this says a lot about who I am. It shows that I have passions for both volleyball and art. I think our passions are what we resort to when it seems we've lost faith in everything else.
"How to make sure that the voice we hear is the voice of the Lord? There are all kinds of dirty devices that get in the way, a principal one being the climate of success in which we live, the need for success with our peers, in our careers, in our bank balances. The mistake is in thinking of the journey in terms of success at all. Success is one of the dirtiest temptations of the devil." There are so many things that distract us from what's important in our world today, and personally I think technology is the number one distraction. However, I think that success is definitely a good thing to strive for, and I do not want people to read this and take it the wrong way. Success is something that you SHOULD focus on. But, I think some people focus on it a little too much, and it eventually begins to consume them. So I guess we just have to be careful not to become so wrapped up in success that we forget about what else is also important.
"A help to me in working things out has been to keep an honest unpublishable journal." I think this practice is one of those practices that everyone needs to try out at some point in their Christian walk. I have just recently started doing this, and I started doing it because of the movie War Room. I started my own "War Room" at my house, and I now write things down and hang them up. I think there is just something about getting your feelings down on paper that actually just makes you feel stress-free about whatever is bothering you. I completely understand where L'Engle is coming from when she talks about journaling and writing things down.
"Vision keeps breaking through and must find means of expression." I honestly do not know what L'Engle meant when she wrote this... and it kinda leaves me in a weird spot heading into chapter 9. But I think maybe one way to interpret this sentence is this: Artists are so full of so many ideas and so many 'visions' that they have to find ways to express them, and they have to express them as soon as they can get their hands on a pen and paper.
"How to make sure that the voice we hear is the voice of the Lord? There are all kinds of dirty devices that get in the way, a principal one being the climate of success in which we live, the need for success with our peers, in our careers, in our bank balances. The mistake is in thinking of the journey in terms of success at all. Success is one of the dirtiest temptations of the devil." There are so many things that distract us from what's important in our world today, and personally I think technology is the number one distraction. However, I think that success is definitely a good thing to strive for, and I do not want people to read this and take it the wrong way. Success is something that you SHOULD focus on. But, I think some people focus on it a little too much, and it eventually begins to consume them. So I guess we just have to be careful not to become so wrapped up in success that we forget about what else is also important.
"A help to me in working things out has been to keep an honest unpublishable journal." I think this practice is one of those practices that everyone needs to try out at some point in their Christian walk. I have just recently started doing this, and I started doing it because of the movie War Room. I started my own "War Room" at my house, and I now write things down and hang them up. I think there is just something about getting your feelings down on paper that actually just makes you feel stress-free about whatever is bothering you. I completely understand where L'Engle is coming from when she talks about journaling and writing things down.
"Vision keeps breaking through and must find means of expression." I honestly do not know what L'Engle meant when she wrote this... and it kinda leaves me in a weird spot heading into chapter 9. But I think maybe one way to interpret this sentence is this: Artists are so full of so many ideas and so many 'visions' that they have to find ways to express them, and they have to express them as soon as they can get their hands on a pen and paper.
http://breadnbeyond.com/articles/storage-solutions-for-your-ideas/ (picture)