Quotation of the Week: Vision

 

 "Vision is the art of seeing the invisible."

~Jonathan Swift

Vision is a word of significance. It's used in business, in personal and church mission statements, and, of course, the physicality of sight. The satirist Jonathan Swift defines vision as insight -- "the art of seeing the invisible" -- in other words, the ability to see beyond the present and into the realm of future possibilities, beyond what our eyes can see and our minds can know. 

I hate being asked to write a personal vision statement. The future is too amorphous, too beyond, to commit to paper, much less to share with others.

But I still like the heart of this quote.

Another thing I am trying this year, hopefully more successfully than my "go to bed by 11 PM" goal (she writes at 12:30 AM), is to try to not work (on Brave Writer or my grading business tasks) on the Sabbath. There will be times when I will need to, but I am going to try to get as much done on Saturday as I possibly can and try to leave Sundays for three activities: church, Dungeons & Dragons, and relaxing family time. 

D&D Session 84 Update: our intrepid party of storm sorcerer, rogue/ranger, light cleric, eldritch knight fighter, and a battle master fighter, killed the adult green dragon named Son Iru the Sly who has been trying to kill us since we killed her wyrmling (baby dragon) in self-defense in Session Five, almost exactly two years previously in our time, but about three months in-game. Son Iru has sent many assassins after us, and we managed to fight them off without too much trouble. My light cleric presented the party with a Heroes' Feast the previous night, a sumptuous spread of savory meats, succulent and exotic fruits, fresh bread still warm from the oven, decadent desserts, and rich red wines. Our sorcerer's pet (adjustable-sized) cockatrice Hei-Hei was presented with sparkling rock quartz in a bowl to consume since he eats rocks only.  

The Heroes' Feast provided our party with 24 hours of immunity against Poison and becoming Frightened, and gave us extra hit points. Considering that a green dragon's main weapons are poison and fright, the Heroes' Feast helped greatly. However, when our battle master fighter walloped her something fierce, the dragon killed him. Not merely unconscious -- he was dead. Fortunately, my light cleric had the required diamond and spell slot at hand, cast Revivify, and our fighter returned to the living. My cleric also cast Heal and added her Healing Hands, giving him 82 hit points so that he could continue the good fight. And it was a fight we won. Now what to do with a dead green dragon? 

Have a wonderful Sunday and week ahead!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Quotation of the Week: February 13

 

"Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer."

~Maya Angelou

Prayer is the heart and soul of my existence. I don't write this to sound all holier than thou-ish; I write it because I have no other choice. Prayer isn't anything more or less than talking with God. Because praying became too difficult when I first became ill with chronic pain, I found help in praying through the Book of Common Prayer in which prayers are written to be read aloud as a church body or by oneself in private prayer. 

I also found great solace in a slim little volume of prayers that I pulled out earlier today to pray from: A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie. It's now out of print in its original form; an updated form is available on Kindle, but I only want Baillie's original book, not a revised edition. I've mentioned this book many times on this blog over the years, and it's a book overflowing with solace and peace. 

And gratitude. There's a book --  a very popular book -- a New York Times bestseller for over a year, that I can't recommend highly enough: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Counting our blessings -- the biggies as well as the little incidentals of our ordinary days -- this is truly the heart of following God and feeling His Love for each and every one of us. 

And Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience, is truly, to misquote John Keats' poem "Endymion," "a thing of beauty and a joy forever." There's nothing quite like pulling up a chair on Ann's huge front porch to listen to her words of wisdom born of suffering, and the resulting joy of a life being lived perfectly imperfect, as we all are. 

And, ahhh! The pen of Maya Angelou is gentle one moment and militant the next -- calling out the wrong and lauding the right and with compassion for everything and everyone in-between. She is a Truthteller, Maya is. And she doesn't hold back her punches, no matter whose jaw she is aiming for. Yet her love conquers the injustices she rails against -- and she can be as gentle as this beautiful quotation I've chosen to share with you this week. 

I need to get to bed ... as soon as I post the new Collect for Septuagesima (the Third Sunday Before Lent) -- it's included in this week's sidebar -- to our Book of Common Prayer's Facebook group, copy down the verses of the Communion hymn I'll be reciting as poetry via Zoom for our Blessed Trinity Anglican Church's service tomorrow, and pray Compline before bed. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday, whether you will be watching the big game or enjoying the unseasonably warm weather here in San Diego (it's supposed to be 83 here on Sunday) or doing whatever else you enjoy most on this day of relaxation and rest. The majority of my family will be trying to slay a green dragon in our 84th Dungeons & Dragons session. Here's hoping we survive until Week 85! 

Warmly,

Quotation of the Week: Be Yourself

 

"No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself." 

~Virginia Woolf

I'll just leave this quote as it is, without explanations. It's an important quotation, though -- one I hope to learn to accept and embody as time goes on. 

Later today I'll be likely fighting a dragon in the guise of my part-angelic demon hunter character, Fionnlagh (pronounced Finlay) in our weekly Dungeons and Dragons session. Fighting an ancient green dragon is no joke, yet I believe that our party of five is as ready as we'll ever be. 

Because Fionn is a Light Cleric, she has access to a spell called a Heroes' Feast which will give us extra protection against the dragon for twenty-four hours after we feast. It also costs a jeweled bowl worth 1000 gold pieces which will be consumed by the spell. But being protected from poison (this dragon has poisoned breath rather than fire breath) and from being frightened when fighting a very angry ancient dragon whose offspring we killed (in self-defense) will be well worth the price of the spell.

Wish us well, and have a blessed week!

Soli Deo Gloria,