Tag Archives: quotes

Drop Thy Still Dews of Quietness

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Another of my favorite cabinet quotes:

Drop thy still dews of quietness
till all our strivings cease;
take from our lives the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace.
- John Greenleaf Whittier

Why are our lives so often not ordered? I think when mine is not it’s often because I’m afraid to say ‘no’ or I’m afraid of what other people will think (failure). So, this year I want to purposefully say no to the things that are not highest on my priority list and focus on the things that are. That means, for me, less computer time, less writing. More keeping up with my house, more making soup, more sitting on the couch reading with my kids.

How about you? What things have you cut out to have a more ordered, less stressful life?

Learn to like what does not cost much

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I love the artful arrangement of words so much that I treasure wonderful quotes. I have run out of good places to put them, so I’ve
taken to taping up my favorites on the insides of my kitchen cabinets. After all, the insides of those cabinet doors are just sitting there. I might as well put them to use.

Here’s one of my absolute favorites:

Learn to like what does not cost much; learn to like reading, conversation, music. Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking. Learn to like people, even those who may be very different from you.
Learn to shelter your family with love, comfort, and peace.
Learn to keep your wants simple. Refuse to be owned and anchored by things and opinions of others.
Learn to like the sunrise and sunset, the beating of the rain on the roof and the windows, the gentle fall of the snow in winter. Learn to hold heaven near and dear.
Learn to love God for he surely loves you.

- Anonymous (wouldn’t you know?)

Isn’t that amazing? I realize, typing that out, how much those ideas are undercurrents in the book.

I especially like how the author says, “Learn to like.”  We have to learn to like all kinds of things don’t we? Spinach, reading hard books, getting up early (working on that one,
ahem), being content with simple things.

It always reminds me of Hebrews 13:5 Let your lives be free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

That theme of simplicity is woven lightly into the book, but the thread is pulled out most explicitly here:

“We all value the things that are unseen; sometimes we just forget. We think we value ease and luxury, diamonds and crystal, but we don’t. We value fulfilling work, truth and honor, family and friends, lives well lived, love freely given.

Frank and Vicky and all their millionaire friends know what we all do when we
think about it—what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

What simple things do you love?