Saturday, December 4, 2010

QUAINT WORDS

Welcome to "Quaint Words!”

These posts will contain thoughts, poems, and prayers from old books that I have found at antique stores, flea markets, and garage sales (with an occasional treasure from a bookstore).

I love the rhythm and sound of the older English language, and am blessed by other believers who have gone before me!

(A listing of books and authors, and also dates of individual postings from those books, will be found on my "QUAINT WORDS" page)

"[Prayer] is conscious outreach in reverent thought and feeling to God, expecting a response. It is perhaps not so much a reaching out as it is a reaching in to the depths of the soul, for it is in those depths, in the very heart of a man, that the energy of God touches him most vitally.

It follows from this that prayer is by no means exclusively an effort to get something from God. The best moments...are often those restful moments in which there is a free interplay of feeling and interchange of thought, a thinking and feeling back and forth...

If there is a getting from God in response to an asking, the asking must be for what God has and is."

(From "What It Means to Be a Christian" by Edward Increase Bosworth, c. 1922)


BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"

7 comments:

  1. I love the last part the best.

    I don't always know what to say in response to the "quaint words" because the post itself is always one that stands on its own.

    Just felt the "need" to say that here...

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  2. thank you for this awesome reminder- prayer is a relationship and also a way to join in communion w/the Lord, or as Blake so nicely put it "walking with the Lord"...it's in the "being".
    Love you!

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  3. I really like being quiet in His presence. It's where I feel the best...the most real...the most alive...and the most connected. Prayer to me is definitely a relationship. Thanks for this Sharon....

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  4. Debbie - I liked the last part, too. If there is a getting from God that I want, above all else, it's to have in my heart - what HE IS! Thank you, friend, for your thoughtfulness. In view of our latest emails, your kindness in commenting is VERY appreciated!

    Janet - YES! I like the thought you've given me that just adds to these "quaint words" - prayer is just "being" with the Lord - it isn't something we DO. Maybe that's why people sometimes look at prayer almost as a chore. But it's never a chore just talking with a friend (is it?!).

    Sarah - So glad you liked this. I did too, because I really needed to hear these words for myself. And I appreciated the lovely words you chose to describe prayer:

    Quiet, best, real, alive, connected = RELATIONSHIP!

    Pretty much sums it up!!

    GOD BLESS - hope everyone is having a great weekend!

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  5. Anita - I SECOND YOUR AMEN!!

    GOD BLESS!

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  6. And prayer is different for everyone - and for me it's different at different times of the day or even in different moods or in different places - can't say it's always the same. Sandi♥

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  7. Sandie - Well said. Since prayer is a personal conversation between an individual and God, it will absolutely be unique. And since an individual is full of changing thoughts and feelings and circumstances, their prayers will reflect that. Your point is that prayer is not static, or boring - it is LIVE conversation, a relationship with a PERSON - God!

    GOD BLESS!

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"So [I] have been greatly encouraged in the midst of [my] troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives [me] new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. How [I] thank God for you!" (1 Thessalonians 3:7-9)

Thanks for your comments - it is such a joy to be sharing my journey with friends like YOU!

(NOTE: Anonymous comments will be removed. Thank you for understanding.)