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Showing posts from June, 2008

CRESTED BUTTE

. . . Was it here, Here, that paradise was revealed For one brief moment On a night in midsummer? ( Hammarskjöld, p. 216)

YES #6

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Yes to God; yes to Fate; yes to yourself. This reality can wound the soul, but has the power to heal her . . . (Hammarskjöld, p.155)

YES #7

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I don’t know Who – or what – put the question, I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone – or Something – and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal. From that moment I have known what it means “not to look back,” and “to take no thought for the morrow.” Led by Ariadne’s thread of my answer through the labyrinth of Life, I came to a time and place where I realized that the way leads to a triumph which is a catastrophe, and to a catastrophe which is a triumph, that the price for committing one’s life would be reproach, and that the only elevation possible to man lies in the depths of humiliation. After that, the word “courage” lost its meaning, since nothing could be taken from me. As I continued along the Way, I learned, step by step, that behind every saying in the Gospels stands one man and

YES #4

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To say Yes is never more difficult than when circumstances prevent you from rushing to the defense of someone whose purity of heart makes him defenseless before an attack. (Hammarskjöld, p. 99)

YES #5

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You dare your Yes – and experience a meaning. You repeat your Yes – and all things acquire a meaning. When everything has a meaning, how can you live anything but a Yes. (Hammarskjöld, p. 120)

YES #2

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To be free, to be able to stand up and leave everything behind – without looking back. To say Yes – (Hammarskjöld, p. 86)

YES #3

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To say Yes to life is at one and the same time to say Yes to oneself. Yes – even to that element in one which is most unwilling to let itself be transformed from a temptation into a strength. (Hammarskjöld, p.86)

ASSENT #1

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Now. When I have overcome my fears – of others, of myself, of the underlying darkness: at the frontier of the unheard-of. Here ends the known. But, from a source beyond it, something fills my being with its possibilities. Here desire is purified and made lucid: each action is a preparation for, each choice an assent to the unknown. Prevented by duties of life on the surface from looking down into the depths, yet all the while being slowly trained and molded by them to take the plunge into the deep whence rises the fragrance of a forest star, bearing the promise of a new affection. At the frontier – (Hammarskjöld, p. 69)

YES #1

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“ – Night is drawing nigh – ” For all that has been – Thanks! To all that shall be – Yes! (Hammarskjöld, p. 83)

THE WAY CHOSE YOU

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Tired And lonely, So tired The heart aches. Meltwater trickles Down the rocks, The fingers are numb, The knees tremble. It is now, Now, that you must not give in. On the path of the others Are resting places, Places in the sun Where they can meet. But this Is your path, And it is now, Now that you must not fail. Weep If you can, Weep, But do not complain. The way chose you – And you must be thankful. ( Hammarskjöld, p. 209)

SILENCE MARK

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Every deed and every relationship is surrounded by an atmosphere of silence. Friendship needs no words – it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness. (Hammarskjöld, p. 8, 1925-1930, #10)

MARKINGS 1

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From . . . my father’s side I inherited a belief that no life was more satisfactory than one of selfless service to your country – or humanity . . . From . . . my mother’s side I inherited a belief that . . . all men were equals as children of God, and should be met and treated by us as our masters. Faith is a state of the mind and the soul . . . The language of religion is a set of formulas which register a basic spiritual experience . . . (Hammarskjöld, p. viii)

MAHLER'S FOURTH OF 4TH

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Kein Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden, Die unsrer verglichen kann werden. Elftausend Jungfrauen Zu tanzen sich trauen! Sankt Ursula selbst dazu lacht! Kein Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden, Die unsrer verglichen kann werden. Cäcilie mit ihren Verwandten, Sind treffliche Hofmusikanten. Die englischen Stimmen Ermuntern die Sinnen, Daß alles fur Freuden erwacht. (“Das himmlische Leben” aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn ) [There is not yet any Music on Earth That can be compared with ours. Eleven thousand Maidens Dance to prepare themselves for Marriage. There is not yet an Music on Earth That can be compared with ours. Cecilia with her Company Are excellent Oratorio Singers. The Angelic Voices Arouse the Senses, And everyone awakes for Joy. CLH]

SMÖRBAKELSE (butter pastries)

2 cups softened butter 1 cup sugar 1 whole egg 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon almond extract 3-4 cups flour Cream the butter. Add sugar and cream well. Add egg and extract. Add flour to make a stiff dough. Pinch off a small ball and place in pastry tin, spreading as thin as possible. Place tins on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown (15 minutes). Cool before removing. You may add fruit filling and garnishes. Makes 5-6 dozen.

NEW DAY

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You are the new day. You are the new day. I will love you more than me and more than yesterday If you can but prove to me: you are the new day. Send the sun in time for dawn; Let the birds all hail the morning. Love of life will urge me say You are the new day. (Lyrics by John David; check out www.kingsingers.com)

PROMOTE FAMILY VALUES

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“Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God . . . the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife. Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children . . . the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets . . . We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.” (Family Proclamation, September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah.)

THE PATH

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“The Road is rough,” I said. “Dear Lord, there are stones that hurt me so.” And He said, “Dear child, I understand. I walked it long ago.” “But there is a cool green path,” I said. “Let me walk there for a time.” “No, child,” He gently answered me. “The green road does not climb.” “My burden,” I said, “is far too great. How can I bear it so?” “My child,” said He, “I remember its weight. I carried my cross, you know.” “I wish there were some friends with me who would make my way their own.” “Oh yes,” He said, “Gethsemane was hard to face all alone.” And so I climbed the stony path, content at last to know That where the Savior had not gone, I would not need to go. And strangely then I found new friends; the burden grew less sore, As I remembered long ago, He went that way before. (Anonymous)

BUILDING A BOAT

“If you want to have something you have never had before, you have to do something you have never done before.” (Richard Jones)

MARRIAGE VOW

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The marriage vow unites not just a woman and a man with each other; it unites each of them with the community in a vow of sexual responsibility toward all others. The whole community is married, realizes its essential unity, in each of its marriages . . . What marriage offers -- and what fidelity is meant to protect -- is the possibility of moments when what we have chosen and what we desire are the same. Such a convergence obviously cannot be continuous. No relationship can continue very long at its highest pitch. But fidelity prepares us for the return of these moments, which gives us the highest joy we can know: that of union, communion, atonement (in the root sense of at-one-ment). [Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America , 1977, p. 122]

WONDER MARK

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“Guard closely a sense of the wonder of life, of the joy of giving, of love for another. For in a heart devoid of these, God cannot dwell.” (ENSIGN July 1977)

HOW LOVE WILL BE

“What is more amiable and pleasant than those pure, innocent, endearing affections which God has placed in the hearts of the male and female, who are united in lawful matrimony, with a love and affection, pure as the love of God, because it springs from Him, and is His gift: with bodies chaste and virtuous, and an offspring, lovely, healthy, pure, innocent, and uncontaminated: confiding in each other, they live together in the fear of God, enjoying nature's gifts uncorrupted, and undefiled as the driven snow, or the crystal stream.” ( Teachings of Presidents of the Church , John Taylor, p. 194)