Lost and Found

I missed him when the sun began to bend;

I found him not when I had lost his rim;

With many tears I went in search of him,

Climbing high mountains which did still ascend,

And gave me echoes when I called my friend;

Through cities vast and charnel-houses grim,

And high cathedrals where the light was dim,

Through books and arts and works without an end,

But found him not--the friend whom I had lost.

And yet I found him--as I found the lark,

A sound in fields I heard but could not mark;

I found him nearest when I missed him most;

I found him in my heart, a life in frost,

A light I knew not till my soul was dark.
 
--George MacDonald

Sunday Snippet

Welcome to all of you who have joined "Sunday Snippets:  A Catholic Carnival and a big "thank you" to RAnn for inviting me to be a part of it.  Here is my contribution, originally posted on Monday, February 1st.  It says what is most important to me, and I hope that you will always remember to Be Swift To Love

Only Now

I've walked the paths laid out for me.

I've worn the letters pinned to me.

I've smiled and nodded pleasantly.

I've borne the cruelties dutifully,

While trying to live honorably.

And only now I start to see

How beautifully it all has worked

To lead me to myself,

Beyond myself

To where I need to be--

To the One who fashioned me.

To live life freely, truly,

To live as humbly as a child:

Only now do I begin to see.
 
(Originally posted on January 14, 2009)

God's gifts

“God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.”

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Relationships

"Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter."

--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Hero

“And each man stands with his face in the light of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can.”

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Motto

Purificatus non consumptus (Purified, not consumed)

--crest of the Washbourne family, and of Washburn University where I am currently a student in Legal Studies