Sunday Morning

There is something special about Sunday mornings in Brazil. Church (mostly) meets in the evening, so in the morning most all the stores are closed and things are quiet. And God and I have a history of making this time something special. Praying. Reading His Words. Listening. Writing. And so, the tradition continues--and is enhanced--as I am back in Brazil, now with an amazing husband (who has added the tradition of Sunday chicken for lunch...come to Brazil to taste the goodness:)).

I finished reading "Scary Close" by Donald Miller, and have some quotes for you. I am splitting them into two blog posts, since mostly people don't want to read the whole 3 pages I typed out.

“Here’s a thought that haunts me: what if we are designed as sensitive antennas, receptors to receive love, a longing we often mistake as a need to be impressive? What if some of the most successful people in the world got that way because their success was fueled by a misappropriated need for love? What if the people we consider to be great are actually the most broken? And what if the whole time they’re seeking applause they are missing out on true intimacy because they’ve never learned how to receive it?”
“Love is not a game any of us can win, it’s just a story we can live and enjoy. It’s a noble ambition, then, to add a chapter to the story of love, and to make our chapter a good one. We don’t think much about how our love stories will affect the world, but they do. Children learn what’s worth living and dying for by the stories they watch us live. I want to teach our children how to get scary close, and more, how to be brave. I want to teach them that love is worth what it costs.”
“I like what Viktor Frankl wrote, about how we aren’t designed to spend too much time thinking about ourselves, that we are healthier when we’re distracted by a noble cause. Frankl went on to say it wasn’t pleasure mankind was looking for, that men only sought pleasure when they couldn’t find meaning. If a man has no sense of meaning, Frankl argued, he will numb himself with pleasure. He had three recommendations:
1. Have a project to work on, some reason to get out of bed in the morning and preferably something that serves other people.
2. Have a redemptive perspective on life’s challenges. That is, when something difficult happens, recognize the ways that difficulty also serves you.
3. Share your life with a person or people who love you unconditionally.”

“In the next five years we will become a conglomerate of the people we hang out with. The article I read went to far as to say relationships were a greater predictor of who we will become than exercise, diet, or media consumption. If you want to make a sad person happy, start by planting them in a community of optimists. My friend John Cotton Richmond once said to me that 90 percent of people’s problems could be prevented if they’d choose healthier people to give their hearts to.”
“It’s a beautiful moment when somebody wakes up and realizes that God created them so other people could enjoy them, not just endure them. I’d say one of the reasons Betsy is good at relationships is, for the most part, she truly believes she’s good for people.”

I hope you write more of your love chapter today:).Happy Sunday!