Episodit
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Listen to Shanna and Janice as they discuss the books theyâre reading and the final part of Anna Karenina. Itâs been an exciting book. Learn how this story ends and the wrap-up conversation and ramblings of the two hosts.
Commonplace Quote
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.~ Psalm 37:3-6
We all want truth, that truth that which Jesus promise would make us free. But where do we find it? How could it have happended that even in the church, story has been lost as a vehicle of truth? Early in our corruption we are taught that fiction is not true. Too many people apologize when they are caught enjoying a book of fiction; they are afrad that it will be considered a waste of time and that they ought to be reading a biography or a book of information on how to pot plants. Is Jane Eyre not true? Did Conrad, turning to the writing of fiction in his sixties, not search for truth? Was Melville, writing about the sea and the the great conflict between man and whale, not delving for a deeper truth than we can find in any number of how-to books?
And Shakespeare and all the other dramatists before and after him! Are they not revealers of truth? ~ Madeleine LâEngle
Books Mentioned
Learning to Love the Psalm, Ligonier MinistriesWalking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art, Madeliene LâEngleWrinkle in Time, Madeleine LâEngle
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Listen to Shanna and Janice as they discuss the books theyâre reading and Part VII of Anna Karenina.
Commonplace Quotes
The first demand any work of any art makes upon us is Surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way.
~ C.S. Lewis
âI was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.â
âThen it was you who wounded Aravis?â
âIt was I.â
âBut what for?â
âChild,â said the voice, âI am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.â
~ The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis
Books Mentioned
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, Madeleine L'EngleThe Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis
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Puuttuva jakso?
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Listen to Shanna and Janice as they discuss the books theyâre reading and Part VI of Anna Karenina.
Commonplace Quotes
I saw a young motherWith eyes full of laughterAnd two little shadowsCame following after.Wherever she moved,They were always right thereHolding onto her skirts,Hanging onto her chair.Before her, behind her -An adhesive pair.'Don't you ever get wearyAs, day after day,your two little tagalongsGet in your way? 'She smiled as she shookHer pretty young head,And I'll always rememberThe words that she said.'It's good to have shadowsThat run when you run,That laugh when you're happyAnd hum when you hum -For you only have shadowsWhen your life's filled with sun.~ Anonymous
But perhaps he was happiest, in reflection, about the other waiting, the times when the temptation to have it all had been nearly unbearable, but they had drawn back, obeying Godâs wisdom for their lives. The drawing back had shaken him, yes, and shaken her, for their love had exposed their desire in a way they;d never known before. Yes, His grace had made them able to wait, to concentrate on the approaching feast instead of the present hunger.
Books Mentioned
A Common Life, Jan Karon
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Listen to Shanna and Janice as they discuss the books theyâre reading and Part V of Anna Karenina.
Commonplace Quote
I see thee glittering from afar -- And then thou art a pretty star; Not quite so fair as many are In heaven above thee! Yet like a star, with glittering crest, Self-poised in air thou seem'st to rest; -- May peace come never to his nest, Who shall reprove thee!~ To The Same Flower, William Wordsworth
âThe problem is that many people treat morality as a list of rules. But in reality, every moral system rests on a worldview. In every decision we make, we are not just deciding what we want to do. We are expressing our view of the purpose of human life. In the words of theologian Stanley Hauerwas, a moral act âcannot be seen as just an isolated act, but involves fundamental options about the nature and significance of life itself.â
Love Thy Body, Nancy R. Pearcey
Books Mentioned
Love Thy Body, Nancy R. PearceyThat Hideous Strength: How The West Was Lost, Melvin Tinker
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Listen to Shanna and Janice as they discuss the books theyâre readings and finish their discussion of Part IV of Anna Karenina.
Commonplace Quote
Well, I always dodge questions about my religious beliefs, because when someone says to you, âDo you believe in so and soâ, he nevers means that. He always mean, âDo you believe what I mean about so-and-soâ. When you answer a question, you accept assumptions of the person who asks it and I very seldom find myself able to accept the assumptions.
~Northrop Frye
You threaten me with fire that burns for a little while and goes out," Polycarp said. "But you are ignorant of the fire of eternal punishment which is prepared for the ungodly.
~ Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History
Books Mentioned
Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History, Richard M. Hannula
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Listen to Shanna and Janice as they discuss the books theyâre readings and discuss Part III of Anna Karenina.
Commonplace Quote
Knowing is essential, there is no question about that; but knowing does not always result in loving and doing, whereas loving is based upon knowing and is much likely to result in doing.
~ Lois E. Lebar, Education that is Christian
All I know is this, manâs fate is decided on the dayâs heâs born and we shant any of us go down to the underworld a day before our appointed time. So stop that crying.
~Odyssey
Book Mentioned
Education that is Christian, Lois E. LebarAnna Karenina, Leo TolstoyThe Wanderings of Odysseus, Rosemary Sutcliff
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Join Janice and Shanna as they finish their discussions of Part II and begin to explore Part III of the novel Anna Karenina.
Commonplace Quotes
At that moment they heard from behind them a loud noiseâa great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giantâs plate.
âWhoâs done it?â cried Susan. âWhat does it mean? Is it more magic?â âYes!â said a great voice behind their backs. âIt is more magic.â They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
âOh, Aslan!â cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad.
âBut what does it all mean?â asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer. âIt means,â said Aslan, âthat though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitorâs stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale isâwhat will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problem of the modern novel isâwhat will a madman do with a dull world? In the fairy tales the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos.
G.K Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles
Books Mentioned
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. LewisTremendous Trifles, G.K. Chesterton
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss books theyâre reading and delve into Anna Karenina, Part II.
Commonplace Quotes
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to doâthis I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in Godâs law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
~ Romans 7:14-25
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
âHa,â he said,
âI see that none has passed here
In a long time.â
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
âWell,â he mumbled at last,
âDoubtless there are other roads.â
~ Stephen Crane, The Wayfarer
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Join Janice and Shanna as they share the books they are currently reading and discuss Part I of Anna Karenina.
Commonplace Quotes
For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.
~ C.S. Lewis
As quickly as a spear, We wish the ear had not a heart. So dangerously near.
~ Emily Dickinson
Books Mentioned
The Magicianâs Nephew by C.S. LewisThe Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. LewisAnd There Were None by Agatha Christie
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading and finish up their discussion of Khaled Hosseiniâs, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading and continue their discussion of Khaled Hosseiniâs, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading and continue their discussion of Khaled Hosseiniâs, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
P.S. Please excuse the blunder of calling Charles Dickens, Charles Dickenson.
Commonplace Quotes
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4:12
One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other;
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands.
Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,'
When they did say 'God bless us!'
But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?
I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'
Stuck in my throat.
~ Shakespeare
Books Mentioned
The Giver, Lois LowryThe BibleJane Eyre, Charlotte BronteThe Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit readingsandramblings.substack.com -
Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading and their discussion of Khaled Hosseiniâs, A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Commonplace Quotes
I do not even try, Lord, to rise up to your heights, because my intellect does not measure up to that task; but I do want to understand in some small measure your truth, which my heart believes in and loved. Nor do I seek to understand so that I can believe, but rather I believe so that I can understand. For I believe this too, that "unless I believe I shall not understand.
~ Anselm
We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of any art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. (There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.)
~ C. S. Lewis
Books Mentioned
Anselm: ProslogiumAn Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading, Cain and Abel, and continue their discussion of Elizabeth Gaskellâs, North and South.
Commonplace Quote
In this way, they try to put themselves above all authority but their own. They do not want anybody telling them what to do and they do not want any rules telling them what to do. The problem with this, of course, is that you should never trust people who have strong views of authority when talking about people under them, but have very weak views of authority when talking about people over them. Whenever you encounter someone like that, you need to run in the other direction as fast and as far as you canâthat person is going to abuse any authority they can get.
~ Douglas Wilson
THERE was once a little princess whoâ
"But, Mr. Author, why do you always write about princesses?"
"Because every little girl is a princess."
"You will make them vain if you tell them that."
"Not if they understand what I mean."
"Then what do you mean?"
"What do you mean by a princess?"
"The daughter of a king."
"Very well, then every little girl is a princess, and there would be no need to say anything about it, except that she is always in danger of forgetting her rank, and behaving as if she had grown out of the mud. I have seen little princesses behave like the children of thieves and lying beggars, and that is why they need, to be told they are princesses. And that is why, when I tell a story of this kind, I like to tell it about a princess. Then I can say better what I mean, because I can then give her every beautiful thing I want her to have."
"Please go on."
~ George MacDonald
Books Mentioned
What I Learned in Narnia, Douglas WilsonNorth and South, Elizabeth GaskellThe Magicianâs Nephew, C. S. LewisThe Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonaldThe Bible
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Join Janice and Shanna as they delve into a new book, Elizabeth Gaskellâs North and South.
Commonplace Quotes
What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible differenceâso wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.
~ Frederick Douglass
Obviously, God has chosen to leave certain questions unanswered and certain problems without any solution in this life, in order that in our very struggle to answer and solve we may be shoved back, and back, and eternally back to the contemplation of Himself, and to complete trust in Who He is.
~ Elizabeth Elliot
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading and finish up their discussion of Mansfield Park.
Commonplace Quote
And, in yet another sense, handing everything over to Christ does not, of course, mean that you stop trying. To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.
~ C. S. Lewis
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
~ Colossians 3:1-2
Books Mentioned
Mere Christianity, C. S. LewisThe Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl R. TruemanThe BibleHarry Potter, J. K. Rowling
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading, rescue stories in the Bible, and continue their discussion of Mansfield Park.
Commonplace Quotes
Feelings come and feelings go,And feelings are deceiving;My warrant is the Word of God âNaught else is worth believing.Though all my heart should feel condemnedFor want of some sweet token,There is One greater than my heartWhose Word cannot be broken.Iâll trust in Godâs unchanging WordâTil soul and body sever,For, though all things shall pass away,His Word shall stand forever!~ Martin Luther
Thereâs one thing you may be sure of, Pip,â said Joe, after some rumination, ânamely, that lies is lies. However they come, they didnât ought to come, and they come from the father of lies, and work round to the same. Donât you tell no more of âem, Pip. That ainât the way to get out of being common, old chap.â
Lookee here, Pip, at what is said to you by a true friend. Which this to you the true friend say. If you canât get to be oncommon through going straight, youâll never get to do it through going crooked. So donât tell no more on âem, Pip, and live well and die happy.â
~ Charles Dickens
Books Mentioned
Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth GaskellThe Bible
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Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading and continue their discussion of Mansfield Park.
Commonplace Quotes
And the angel of the Lord said to him, âWhy do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?â
~ Judges 13:18 ESV
Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say âMy tooth is achingâ than to say âMy heart is broken.â
~ C.S. Lewis
Books Mentioned
The BibleThe Problem with Pain, C. S. Lewis
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit readingsandramblings.substack.com -
Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading and continue their discussion of Mansfield Park.
Commonplace Quotes
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kingsânor lose the common touch,If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much;If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty secondsâ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything thatâs in it, Andâwhich is moreâyouâll be a Man, my son!~ Ruyard Kipling
Joseph did not endure the pit at Potipherâs house and prison because he knoew he would end up in the Pharoahâs palace. He simply remained faithful whereever he found himself, God did the rest.
~ H.B. Charles, Jr.
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit readingsandramblings.substack.com -
Join Shanna and Janice in conversation and laughter as they discuss the books theyâre reading, marriages in the Bible, and continue their discussion of Mansfield Park.
Commonplace Quote
Many are the plans in a personâs heart, but it is the Lordâs purpose that prevails.~ Proverbs 19:21
[W]here all that was solemn, and soothing, and lovely, appeared in the brilliancy of an unclouded night, and the contrast of the deep shade of the woods. Fanny spoke her feelings. "Here's harmony!" said she; "here's repose! Here's what may leave all painting and all music behind, and what poetry only can attempt to describe! Here's what may tranquillise every care, and lift the heart to rapture! When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene."
~ Jane Austen
Books Mentioned
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott FitzgeraldAnimal Farm, George OrwellGreat Expectations, Charles DickensThe Problem of Pain, C. S. LewisThe Screwtape Letters, C. S. LewisMansfield Park, Jane Austen
Other Things Mentioned
World WatchSerial Reader App
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit readingsandramblings.substack.com - Näytä enemmän
