Taken from The complete works of Anne Bradstreet
The treasures of this world may well be compared to husks, for they have no kernel in them, and they that feed upon them, may soon stuff their throats, but cannot fill their bellies, they may be choked by them, but cannot be satisfied with them.
(spelling edited for clarity)
And from Elisabeth Elliot's Keep a Quiet Heart
God came down and lived in this same world as a man. He showed us how to live in this world, subject to its vicissitudes and necessities, that we might be changed - not into an angel or a storybook princess, not wafted into another world, but changed into saints in this world. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.
Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for.
That's really it, isn't it? To be content in this world isn't the point. Not what my heart should seek, despite its cravings. I whine because I don't have a perfect life. My Savior loves me too much to give it to me.
Wait, He whispers. Just wait.
And so, thankful for a small, ordinary life, I settle in to do just that.
3 comments:
Both are so true. I have read and been convicted by those words of Elisabeth Elliot's many times, especially, "The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances" and "Heaven is not here, it's There."
I love the Elisabeth Elliot quote. I think I'll write it in my journal!
We are in the process of having to pack our family of five up and move due to our landlord losing the house we live in to her husband in a divorce settlement, so my time the next couple of weeks is going to be full of packing. Not sure how much blog posting I'll be able to do.
I will share this quote from Sinclair Ferguson's "In Christ Alone" that one of our elders shared in his sermon last night:
"Christian contentment is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at His disposal in the place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with the provisions He is pleased to make."
Beautiful! Elisabeth Elliot always gets to me -- she says things so well, and I often leave her books feeling a combination of inspired, convicted, refreshed, and challenged!
Thanks for hosting!
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