Words

The heater is roaring at this early hour; OK, maybe it’s more of a loud whisper that I hear, but it is also money making sound for the stockholders of PG&E. The temperature is down to 41 and will probably fall a few more degrees before he sun makes an appearance.

Wood is not the most economical substitute for PG&E’s gas delivery but it satisfies; giving off a heat that warms the soul just a little bit. I swore that I would never burn wood again once I left Lassen County and I held to that promise for about 16 years. But when we moved here we had a wood burning stove in our new family room and a pile of firewood out back. And I caved in and we began to burn wood on the coldest of days. Sure; I liked it (except for the mess) and now I have to buy some more wood as that pile we inherited is getting pretty small.

I guess I can stop at the local wood dealer and see what ½ a cord would cost; picked up and not delivered. I can do the stacking myself. After that, we can say that we’re ready for winter.

For some reason, I seem to have collected a lot of quotes this morning, beginning with this one from Inward/Outward…

Dangerous Business
By Emilie Griffin

Prayer is a very dangerous business. For all the benefits it offers of growing closer to God, it carries with it one great element of risk: the possibility of change. In prayer we open ourselves to the chance that God will do something with us that we had not intended We yield to possibilities of intense perception, of seeing through human masks and the density of 'things' to the very center of reality. This possibility excites us, but at the same time there is a fluttering in the stomach that goes with any dangerous adventure.

Don't we know for a fact that people who begin by 'just praying' - with no particular aim in mind - wind up trudging off to missionary lands, entering monasteries, taking part in demonstrations, dedicating themselves to the poor and sick? To avoid this, sometimes we excuse ourselves from prayer by doing good works on a carefully controlled schedule.”
Source: Clinging: The Experience of Prayer


And then there are these wonderful quotes from Abraham Lincoln that I found on-line this morning. Believe it or not, the current holder of the office of President of the United States is supposedly a great fan of President Lincoln, reading his words regularly.

I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the war.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.

I shall try to correct errors where shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views as fast as they shall appear to be true views.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.

I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.

Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts — not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose — and you allow him to make war at pleasure.

Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.