Commonplace Collection: Security

Do you have a Commonplace Book? A place to write bits and pieces of what you've read and would like to remember? I have long recorded snippets of fiction and non-fiction alike, but I have only recently realized that historically speaking, such journals are called Commonplace Books. For centuries these personal collections have played a significant role in the way scholars read, learn, and remember. They paint a beautiful picture of an individual's growth over time- of his or her personal journey... I'd like to share a bit from my own Commonplace Book - might you allow me a peek into yours? (From Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things)

"The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."  ~ C.S. Lewis

Commonplace Collection: Giving

Do you have a Commonplace Book? A place to write bits and pieces of what you've read and would like to remember? I have long recorded snippets of fiction and non-fiction alike, but I have only recently realized that historically speaking, such journals are called Commonplace Books. For centuries these personal collections have played a significant role in the way scholars read, learn, and remember. They paint a beautiful picture of an individual's growth over time- of his or her personal journey... I'd like to share a bit from my own Commonplace Book - might you allow me a peek into yours? (From Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things)

Here is a quote that has resonated strongly with me these last months in my efforts to make sense out of the ups and downs of life. I like to think of it in a spiritual context.

"I would like to believe when I die that I have given myself away like a tree that sows seeds every spring and never counts the loss, because it is not loss, it is adding to future life. It's the tree's way of being. Strongly rooted perhaps, but spilling out its treasure on the wind." Mary Sarton