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Quote of the Day: A Young God
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Our culture is addicted to novelty. We need the newest gadgets. “Old-fashioned” is an insult; it’s the wrong side of history. But children are natural conservatives with a prejudice against change. And maybe God is as well. As sons and daughters made in His image, perhaps we need to stop looking to find new and creative ways to change the world, but just do the things we already do well. Nothing wrong with the same old, same old if we do it with excellence.
What are the things that never get old in your life? What things can you do everyday with joy?
Sit in front of a shining box to write. It never gets old.
This conversation is part of the Quote of the Day Series. If you have some favorite quotes or just favorite people to quote, our sign-up sheet for July is right here.
I was born just as the leaves were turning in Michigan, and my mother told me that fall was always my season. Each year I mentally count how many perfect autumn days of color I may have left, and I spend as much time outside as possible, trying very hard to record the sight, sounds and smell of those few precious moments.
I think that I could eat a cheeseburger every day of my life and not grow sick of it. A drive-thru burger is often mediocre but still pretty tasty on the whole. And when you get one that’s made with care, there is no better food.
Write. I am glad I can get paid to write, because it is something I do anyway.
Seawriter
I have to say writing, too. From jotting down ideas, making an outline that I may or may not follow, and fingers on the keyboard. Love it. And having my first cup of coffee in the morning.
I am a Cabinet Maker. Been one for 36 years and counting.
It never gets old to get a project that stretches my skills to the next level. Also excellence never gets old, for I do my job unto our Lord so it always gets my best.
Telling my wife and children that I love them more than ever every day.
Dig in the dirt. Pick weeds. Bicycle. Marvel in God’s creation.
This is a beautiful quote.
I love the idea of God as the joyful toddler, yelling “Do it again!” because the 1 Trillionth time the act of creating a Daisy is as amazing as the first.
I love going for my (almost) daily walk. It’s the same thing over and over, and pretty much the same route over and over, but every day there’s a little surprise. Like this one from the other day. (Sorry, it’s a terrible photo, I only had my ancient phone with me, and the camera is substandard, and, for obvious reasons, I couldn’t get all that close).
It’s a baby squirrel, who couldn’t have been more than about eight or nine inches long, including his tail, posing at the side of the road and eating an acorn. Like Squirrel Nutkin.
In the past couple of weeks I’ve seen geese (crossing the road with about four-inch long goslings), deer, mink, heron, kingfishers, ducks, turkeys, and probably lots of other things as well. (Oh, I expect the wild blackberries will be ripe soon, too).
No matter what sort of mood I’m in when I start out, I’m almost always in a better one when I get home. All I have to do is keep my eyes open and enjoy the world.
How sweet.
Sailing! Sailing the same lake I’ve been playing in and on for 60 years. Sailing, feeling the breeze on my cheek. Sailing, feeling the boat put her shoulder down and surge forward as the breeze picks up. Sailing, enjoying a single puff on a drifty day. Sailing, hearing the sound of the waves lapping along the waterline. Sailing, enjoying with deepest thankfulness His awesome hand in my puny bit of nature.
I feel like you just took us with you, Pilli! Thanks!
This one’s for you @pilli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyYhZ9HH8cI
I wish He would “do it again” and make another Chesterton who could speak with such brilliance and insight to our modern times.
Writing. Walking through the woods with Vrouwe. Playing games with Maedel. Playing guitar. Prayer. Reading the Gospels, Acts and the major Prophets. Reading and learning dead languages. Learning to speak living languages. Listening to the sound of snowfall.
He was just adorable. Like one of my granddaughter’s little stuffed animals. I’ve never seen anything climb a tree faster, though, when he finally spotted me. He could really move!
There has to be one on R>…Maybe it’s you?
I love greeting the day with prayer and connecting with the Ricoverse. Both sources of joy.
I will point out: “old-fashioned” is demeaning; “old-school” is adulatory. All in the modifier.
Eustace,
I believe that the intellectual foundations of Western Civilization began to take a very wrong turn around the turn of the 19th century into the 20th. Chesterton has super-sensitive antenna. He can feel with every bone of his body this wrong-headed drift. He is on target warning us of this very negative thrust of a fool’s modernity.
Too bad, more people didn’t listen to him then. Maybe they’ll listen now.
Regards,
Jim
Yeah, right. I have a day job. But I do try to talk about Chesterton, and Ricochet, and similar with other people daily. A small effort. And I write a little poetry. I do think new leaders may emerge from the current chaos, people who can help us understand. Prophets? Artists? Coal miners?
A dangerous sport. ;)
I love that quote. I have that quote underlined and tripled starred in my copy of Orthodoxy. Like so much of Chesterton, he thinks in ways many of us don’t. He has a way of enlarging our view of what seems mundane.
Yes, that is spot on. Chesterton is the counter to the modernist movement.
I would say that as well for me, but perhaps even ahead of writing would be reading. I love to read great works.
I read so much I am unaware I am reading. So that counts for me, too.
Seawriter
I could walk up a Rocky Mountain stream or river hunting for places to throw a dry fly every day. You’re intensely focused then stop look up and around, or just smell the place.
Change.
Things are constantly changing and I like that. It’s why I totally disagree with Chesterton. And children don’t want things not to change. They don’t have the history beyond five seconds ago to realize what change is.