January 27th, 2026
Hi Friends,
The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. (Ecclesiastes 12:11)
I find myself at a loss for words this week as I sit down to write. This is not bad in itself. I learned a long time ago that great words from the lives of others can often speak to me or for me in a way that nurtures and guides my life. So, rather than expound on some specific topic this week, let me share with you a few quotations that I’ve collected over the years. In doing so, I pray that you may hear the voice of the “One Shepherd” to you.
“God is impossible to satisfy but easy to please.” (George MacDonald)
“One is ever in the company of others. … A pet occupation of the Enemy is to distance us from intimacy.” (Jan Karon)
“‘We are, finally, all wanderers in search of knowledge. Most of us hold the dream of becoming something better than we are, something larger, richer, in some way more important to the world and ourselves. Too often, the way taken is the wrong way, with too much emphasis on what we want to have, rather than what we wish to become.’ (Education Of A Wandering Man: A Memoir; Louise L’Amour)”
“The grace to forgive Matthew Kavanagh had literally saved his life, his feeling life. What he hadn’t known was that it would have to be done again and again over the years. A nuisance, really, like the continuous labor required to keep a garden from running wild, or a bed made, or a machine oiled. Most often, the forgiving of his father had demanded an act of sheer will, there was nothing sappy or sentimental about forgiving a bitter wound, one had to go at it head down.” (Jan Karon)
“She had long accepted the fact that happiness is like swallows in spring. It may come and nest under your eaves or it may not. You cannot command it. When you expect to be happy, you are not and when you don’t expect to be happy, there is suddenly Easter in your soul, though it be mid-winter.” (The White Witch, Elizabeth Goudge)
“… love must be a kind of discipline. If we love only with our feelings, we’re sunk — we may feel love one day and something quite other the next. Soon after he came to live with me — he was eleven years old at the time — I realized I must learn to love with my will, not my feelings.” (Jan Karon)
“Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.” (St. Francis de Sales)
Blessings!
Doug