Monday, January 22, 2007

From the Vicar of Wakefield

"The next morning I took my daughter behind me, and set out on my return home. As we travelled along, I strove, by every persuasion, to calm her sorrows and fears, and to arm her with resolution to bear the presence of her offended mother. I took every opportunity, from the prospect of a fine country through which we passed, to observe how much kinder heaven was to us than we were to each other, and that the misfortunes of nature's making were very few. I assured her that she should never perceive any change in my affections, and that during my life, which yet might be long, she might depend upon a guardian and an instructor. I armed her against the censures of the world, showed her that books were sweet unreproaching companions to the miserable, and that if they could not bring us to enjoy life, they would teach us to endure it."
Chapter XXII, The Vicar of Wakefield

Photo: Thomas Kincaid, allposters.com


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Brenda,

I love this quote! I have found books to be friends so many times.

I also wanted to comment on your deepening the pantry post (I am a little behind). The Lord has been teaching me about trust recently also, specifically in the area of "hoarding things". Last fall I came upon a library book sale that had wonderful old books for great prices. I bought several boxes full. Those books are all still in boxes because I have no where to put them. As I have looked through the books there are none of these books that my family "needs". WE have more than enough books to keep us busy for many years to come. Most of these are not books I had heard of before. There are a few that we might read someday. I have been keeping all these books on the chance that we might want to read them someday! The Lord spoke to my heart saying you don't need to horde books or anything else, trust me to provide for your needs.

That sounds like a lot more fun to me! Thanks for the great post.

Gretchen H.

Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

Yes...I know the feeling about having books in boxes. My husband and I let our son have the big bookcase we used to have in our bedroom (hoping it would help him get his room in order). So I have about five boxes of books in the garage.

I've begun looking for particular books now at library sales. I just started collecting Elizabeth Goudge books as well as Grace Livingston Hill. So I'll have to go for quality rather than my usual QUANTITY. :)

I'm so glad you commented. It is always good to meet a likeminded person.

Heather Anne said...

Brenda
Thank you for your thoughful posts - and for your comments on my blog. I have not been around as much because of my mom's visit! She likes to make a list of things to do while she is here to help me and we work feverishly to accomplish the list before she goes home! This time she has suffered with two cold and now we are all recovering from a nasty flu bug, so we have had very little extra time - all of the pushing and decision making is hard for me because of the liver condition, so while I am very happy to have so much accomplished in a short space of time, it is more than I can handle and I need extra sleep rather than having time to blog in the evening! I appreciate your prayers - we have had one illness after another it seems and it has been trying! I look forward to cathing up on your posts when I have more time!
Blessings!

Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

Welcome back Heather! I was concerned about you.