And so, I have finally finished Passion & Purity for the 2nd time. A few more things I've drawn from this book:
#4. I really like this particular entry from Elisabeth Elliot's journal:
"So it was with our little kernel of possibility. So small, but buried. And I asked God to water it, there in its darkness, and transform the dead thing into fruit. What fruit will He bring forth? If only it could be that from so small a seed He might create the fruits of the Spirit in me, even just the beginning of learning of them: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
Not that I still hope, I just really like how she shifted her focus to the Fruits of the Spirit instead of dwelling on 'what-ifs'.
#5. What guys look for in girls, apparently:
Feminity. Affirmation. Encouragement. Tenderness. Sensitivity. Vulnerability.
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
- 1 Peter 3:3-4 -
Although, that being said, we do live in a world now where guys sit around waiting for the phone to ring and girls get angry if a guy holds a door open for them (no offence meant!). Times may have changed, but I'm all for the good old-fashioned boy-makes-1st-move-rule. :)
#6. "Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living." -Jim Elliot -
Seriously. Life's too short - I can't think of any good thing that comes out of pining and emo-ing, although I have been, maybe still am, guilty of both. "Wherever you are, be all there," says Jim, "live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."
#7. Letting go. There is no ongoing spiritual life without this process. When the time comes for us to let go and we refuse, we stop growing. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, God gives, and God takes away. I believe God places feelings in our hearts, but that doesn't mean that it is ours and we can do what we want with it, rather, it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish and ours to lose - if His will demands it and if our hearts are set on Him. Auntie Kim once said that has stuck with me, "To gain something, that's knowledge. To let it go, that's wisdom." She is very wise. :)
#8. Loving vs. being in love. I think C.S. Lewis summed it all up really nicely :
"Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all...In fact, the state of being in love usually does not last...But of course ceasing to be 'in love' need not mean ceasing to love. Love..is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask and receive from God...They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be 'in love' with someone else. 'Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep their promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it."
After 5 long years of waiting, Jim & Elisabeth finally married, and it was beautiful. :)
This will be the last post that I'm writing with regards to this book. Yay for lessons learnt! Hopefully you've learnt something as well, if you've gotten this far without falling asleep (LOL i know, it's uber wordy, and I apologize, I really can't be bothered separating them into multiple posts).
I'm strengthened and encouraged..and shall end on this note:
"Sometimes being brave means holding on..sometimes, it's letting go."
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