Java Sign

 I just had a lovely hour and a half at a coffee shop with some friends while the sprouts were taking a nap under the supervision of their Daddy (thank you Babe!). While sipping an iced coffee I noticed a sign on the wall that made me laugh and stirred gratitude in my heart that it did not apply to me at this very moment.

"All unattended children will be given 2 shots of expresso and a free puppy."

Quotable Lewis

"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life--the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one's 'real life' is a phantom of one's own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight; but it's hard to remember it all the time."
-The Quotable Lewis (Pg.335)

Quotes

"Never be afraid to trust
an unknown future to a
known God"
- Corrie Ten Boom

Quotes

"Short prayers are long enough. When we can do nothing Jesus can do all things; let us enlist His powerful aid upon our side, and all will be well" C.H. Spurgeon

Surprised by Growth

"God never places us in any position in which we can not grow. We may fancy that He does. We may fear we are so impeded by fretting , petty cares that we are gaining nothing; but when we are not sending any branches upward, we may be sending roots downward. Perhaps in the time of our humiliation, when everything seems a failure, we are making the best kind of progress."
- Elizabeth Prentiss

"Christ values us by what we shall be, and by what we are elected unto. We call a little plant a tree, because it is growing up to be so."
- Richard Sibbes "The Bruised Reed"

Twisting Interests

When we go to pray, we must not give the sacrifice of fools, that think not either what is to be done, or what is to be gained, but speak the words of the wise, who aim at some good end in what they say, and suit it to that end, we must have in our eye God's glory and our own true happiness; and so well ordered is the covenant of grace, that God has been pleased therein to twist interests with us, so that in seeking his glory, we really and effectually seek our own true interests. - Matthew Henry

The Innocence Of A Child

Joshua and I are reading a book together called "Uprooting Anger" by Robert Jones. As we were reading last night we came across a quote by Augustine about anger in the heart of a child.

"The weakness then of an infant's limbs, not it's will, is it's innocence."

Robert Jones went on to comment, "What makes us call an infant "innocent"? It is his inability to rise up and punch the person who doesn't feed him on demand, not his innocent heart. An infants heart would throw a right hook if his arms were strong enough...When a child's formerly "innocent" limbs become as developed as his always demanding heart, be ready for fully developed displays of rage!"

Great Quote

"If you see a spark of grace in someones life get down on your knees and blow it into a flame."
- C.H. Spurgeon

This quote has affected our hearts this week, especially in regards to parenting.