A commonplace is a traditional self-education tool: as you read, grab a notebook. Write down things that embody Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Write down notable quotes, with or without your own thoughts about them. Write down the questions you have as a result of the text you are reading. You will find the book becomes a record of your own growth, and it becomes a touchstone for memory of things you have studied in the past. This is what Mother Culture is all about: self-directed, conscious self-education.
I've set a goal to read 118 books in 2018. This is this month's list:
1. The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Before Achilles, -Padric Colum (Librivox)
2. しんごきの色、ーなぜ？どうして？
3. 北海道の荻田泰永さんが１人で歩いて南極点まで行く
4. ヤコブ５
5. The Tale of Two Bad Mice, -Beatrix Potter
6. The Tale of Mrs. Piggy-Winky, -Beatrix Potter
7. The Raven and the Dragon, -GA Henty (Librivox)
8. ヤコブ６
9. ヤコブ７
10. 新しいロケット「イプシロン」を打ち上げる
11. The Gospel at 30,000 Feet, -Dieter F. Uchtdorf
12. All That Was Promised, -Blaine M. Yorganson
These are a selection of the passages that I've included in my commonplace book this month:
In Tyndale’s day, scriptural ignorance abounded because people lacked access to the Bible, especially in a language they could understand. Today the Bible and other scripture are readily at hand, yet there is a growing scriptural illiteracy because people will not open the books. Consequently they have forgotten things their grandparents knew.
-D. Todd Christofferson, The Blessing of Scripture
A homemaker’s concern is not simply for her home and those who sleep there. A homemaker’s concern is making a home and extending the joy and provision of that home out to where it is needed. We truncate the role of homemaker when we limit it to meals, laundry, and vacuuming. A homemaker is important not because someone has to change diapers and wash dishes, but because someone has to care – it is the homemaker’s job to care.
Sometimes – and most times for us – caring means doing the work. But it doesn’t have to. And here’s the rub: Doing the work isn’t the same as caring. You can care about and care for the home without being the one to mop. And you can mop the floors and not care about having a clean floor or a happy home. A homemaker is one who does what it takes with what she has to make a home. She is a manager, running an organization, and that organization is a life-giving home.
-Mistie Winkler, Homemaking: What It Is and How To Do It Better
To follow Christ is to become more like Him. It is to learn from His character. As spirit children of our Heavenly Father, we do have the potential to incorporate Christlike attributes in our life and character. ... This leads me back to my aerodynamic analogy from the beginning. I spoke of focusing on the basics. Christlike attributes are the basics. They are the fundamental principles that will create "the wind beneath our wings".
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf, The Gospel at 30,000 Feet, p 4-5
It isn't until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are that you can begin to take control of yourself. As you learn to control yourself, you will get control of your life. If you want to move the world, you first have to move yourself.
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf, The Gospel at 30,000 Feet, p10
The Latin source of the word COMFORTER -com fortis- means "together strong". As the Holy Ghost visits your own spirit, you become stronger than you are by yourself. When you receive the Holy Ghost, you receive strength, power, peace, and comfort.
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf, The Gospel at 30,000 Feet
In order to get an airplane off the ground, you must create lift. In aerodynamics, lift happens when air passes over the wings of an airplane in such a way that the pressure underneath the wing is greater than the pressure above the wing. When the upward lift exceeds the downward pull of gravity, the plane rises from the ground and achieves flight.
In a similar way, we can create lift in our spiritual life.
When the force that is pushing us heavenward is greater than the temptations and distress that drag us downward, we can ascend and soar into the realm of the spirit.
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf, The Gospel at 30,000 Feet, 21
On my flights from Europe to Africa, I often could observe the interesting weather phenomenon called the intertropical convergence zone. In simple terms, it is a band of thunderstorms that moves north and south across the equator, filling the horizon with hillowing, menacing columns of clouds.
I could scarcely look at these clouds without being fascinated with their beauty and majesty. They towered in massive black formations, and within them lightning sparked with brilliant light from one end to the other in an indescribably fury of fire. What a glorious and fascinating sight!
But what do you think pilots do when they approach these storms? They do everything in their power to avoid them -- no matter how beautiful and intriguing those thunderstorms appear. As moisture rises in the clouds, it begins to freeze, forming hail the size of soccer balls that can puncture metal and destroy an aircraft. When flying through those clouds, ice, severe turbulence, and electric discharges can cripple the airplane and its systems.
Isn't the same principle true when you see things that could cause spiritual harm?
Temptation wouldn't be temptation if it didn't appear attractive, fascinating, or fun. But, like the pilot approaching a storm, you need to learn to avoid it, no matter how beautiful or intriguing it may appear from the outside.
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf, The Gospel at 30,000 Feet, 101-2
1 comment:
some interesting books .. I thought this was an interesting quote: It isn't until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are that you can begin to take control of yourself. As you learn to control yourself, you will get control of your life. If you want to move the world, you first have to move yourself.
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