Monday, July 23, 2007

A Little Saying: Monday 7-23-07


In the last several years I have undergone tremendous change as I have made a conscious effort to live a spiritual life. This is not to say that I hold my life up to any kind of emulation for anyone else, but nonetheless it is the life I have lived in all its joys, sorrows, and innumerable shortcomings and sins.

During this particular period I have developed a routine for myself throughout the day which I more or less follow. Included in this routine is my daily reading after arriving at work and setting up my restaurant for the day's business. This reading is The Psalms, one a day, beginning at Psalm 1 and each day at work I read the next one. When I complete the 150 Psalms(one a day), I begin over at Psalm 1.

Along with the reading of the Psalms, I also read another piece of "inspirational" literature which have helped me through the last several years. They are not Orthodox, however, but they were of help to me.

As I look over these today, some retain their lustre; others I would not have kept had I been starting the collection today.

I will post these and hope the reader may find value too in these snippets as they have been of help to me. The majority I collected from Norman Vincent Peale's "Treasury of Courage and Confidence" in which he collects those sayings and writings which have meant something to him.

There are other miscellaneous sources from which I drew this little collection and where it is not from "Treasury of Courage and Confidence" I will make note of this. I will cite the author of each saying or snippet as well.

Today I read Psalm 103.

The snippet is:

Now I want you to think that in life troubles will come, which seem as if they would never pass away. The night and the storm look as if they would last forever, but the calm and morning cannot be stayed; the storm in it's very nature is transient. The effort of nature as that of the human heart, ever is to return to its repose, for God is Peace.

-George Macdonald

2 comments:

Aaron Joshua Oliver said...

Hey Soph,

Thanks for riding out the storm, bearing the burden, and keeping the faith. Your courage and light are inspiring.

Sophocles said...

Aaron,

As always, your kind words warm my heart and give me opportunity to once again give thanks for the one uttering them.