through painted deserts
when keith left in march he left behind Donald Miller's book Through Painted Deserts. the following are a few excerpts that i really enjoyed. more comments coming later, but for now, this is what you get. all personal changes are in [brackets].p.75
So how does a person stop caring about the opinions of others enough to enjoy them without manipulating them? How does a person stop caring about money to pay rent, about where his food will come from, or whether or not he has a good retirement package? [Living in the Dominican Republic] one is confronted with the notion that life may be much easier than the rest of us believe it is, that most of the things we worry about are not worth worrying about, that a low bank account or unfashionable clothes won't give you cancer...
...I tend to think that life is about security, that when you have a full years rent, you can rest. I worry about things too much.... There doesn't seem to be any science saying any of this stuff matters, whatever it is; it feels like we are supposed to be panicking about things.
p.90
Imagining the {Easter Sunday} service reminds me again that life is more important than clothes and cars and a new flavor of toothpaste, that it is community and creation and beauty and humanity. And I think I am beginning to prefer the latter to the former; by that I mean I am getting used to not having any music or television and not pulling over and buying something as a way of feeling some kind of change. There is a serenity in life, after all, and once a withdrawal is felt at having left the lies behind, a soul begins to feel at home in its own skin.
p.245
Leaving behind the meadows, I start to wonder if, when I leave this place, when I leave all these guys who don't share my faith, when I leave the militant women always complaining about men, when I leave the starlight above the mountains; if I will go back to my old faith habits, jumping through hoops, trying to please God or, worse, subscribing to self-help formulas and calling it faith. I hope not. I hope I never lose this perspective.... I promise myself if I ever get frustrated with life again, if I ever get into river deep debt, I will sell it all and move out into the woods, find some people who aren't like me, and learn to love them, and do something even harder, let them love me, receive the love of somebody who doesn't share my faith system, who doesn't agree with me about everything, and I will sleep beneath the stars and whisper 'thank you' to the creator of the universe, as a way of reacquainting myself to an old friend, a friend who says you don't have to be smart or good looking or religious or anything; you just have to cling to Him, love Him, listen to His story.
p.249
I don't think we can really understand how time passes. We can't study it like a river or tame it like a clock. Our devices only mark it's coming and going. I dropped an anchor three months back but time didn't slow. Some thing have to end, you know. You feel like life is always leading up to something, but it isn't. I mean life is just life. It's all happening right now, and we aren't going to be any more complete a month from nwo than we are now.
posted by Alexia & Jeffrey @ 8:29 PM
1 Comments:
Donald Miller has a unique prespective on life - in some ways, his thoughts inspire obvious "duh" moments...but I often hesitate to take what he says as wisdom - is it truly wisdom if it is not practical within the world we live? - or do I have it completely wrong...and he is the wisest man on the planet, suggesting that the rest of us have it wrong and that we should live in the ways he suggests? Nonetheless, his words make me examine my own priorities and agendas...schedules and goals...fears and insecurities (securities?) and wonder what I'm doing that truly honors God and what I'm doing that is an utter waste of my time and energy...his words are both encouraging and frustrating at the same time.
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