Mind Meld: The Weekly Digest

Looking out the window....

The Feather Reed Grass in the church parking lot is interesting.

I know that this is a terrible shot, but I've been passing (and ogling over) these plantings all summer and there's no way for me to safely get out of the car to get a shot.  They are along 1st Avenue in Denver from the intersection of University Blvd up a few blocks.  They are full of gorgeous blooms and greenery.  I hope they fill them with seasonal plants as the weather changes.  BTW--I did take the picture while I was stopped at the light, not while I was driving.

Favorite quote(s) of the week...

Prayer is all the more sure to succeed because it is for the Father’s glory through the Son. It glorifies His truth, His faithfulness, His power, and His grace. The granting of prayer, when offered in the name of Jesus, reveals the Father’s love to Him and the honor that He has put upon Him.- Charles Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook, p. 239. 

 

Some people feel so hopeless because they have no memory of being helped in the past. - Cloud and Townsend, Boundaries, p. 291. 

 

Egotism is pathological self-obsession, a reaction to anxiety about whether one really does count. It is a form of acute self-consciousness and can be prevented and healed only by the experience of being adequately loved.  It is, indeed, a desperate response to frustration of the need we all have to count for something and be held to be irreplaceable, without price. - Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p.  15.

 

I'm thinking about...

Yes, I know I shouldn't be thinking of it, but I am.
This too shall pass.

 

  What I've read since the last digest...

• Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend ✮✮✮✮ (a glorious reread)
• Silence by Shusaku Endo ✮✮✮1/2   
• Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster ✮✮✮✮ ( a glorious reread)
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin ✮✮✮✮ (a glorious reread) 
• Letters to a Young Pastor by Eric Peterson & Eugene Peterson ✮ (an impulse read)  
• Freckle Juice by Judy Blume  ✮✮✮1/2 (Kiddie Lit) 

I'm currently reading...

• The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
• Mansions of the Heart by R. Thomas Ashbrook 
• Streams of Living Water by Richard J. Foster 
• On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior
• Faith's Checkbook by Charles Spurgeon

Recent blog posts...

• My previous digest, "Big Nasty'" is here.
  
• Where No Couch Has Gone Before:  The Weekly Hodgepodge is here. 
• First Line Friday #38: The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard is here.  
• My "25 for 2025" challenge is here. (Updated regularly)
• My "I Can Only Blame MyShelf" reading challenge is here.  (Updated regularly). 

From the Workshop... 

Miss Betsy and I had a painting party this past weekend.
She painted this adorable frog for her grandson's birthday present.

"Jeremiah Was a Tree Frog" Acrylic on 11x14-inch canvas.

  

I am thankful for...

• My new living room furniture.  
• A friend to help assemble said furniture.
• Coffee.
• Naps.
• I am thankful to not use TikTok.  The more content I see curated from that app from YouTube creators, the less interest I have in this brain rot.
• G-U-M toothpicks. 
• Funny and encouraging memes. 
• Rubber bands.