alive

q. how do i teach nathan, henry, caroline & betsy
to love Lord
without being
tripped up by
our own hypocrisy & legalism?

thankfully,
His grace & mercy,
melts my guilt,
pride &
even my humiliation.

‘the chief thing to be attended to is,
that it may be a spiritual service;
and the great evil to be dreaded and guarded againast
in the exercise of every duty
that returns frequently upon us,
is formality.

if a stated course of family-prayer
is kept up as constantly in its season
as the striking of the clock,
it may come in time to be almost
as mechanically performed,
unless we are continually looking
to the Lord
to keep our hearts alive.‘

-j. newton
’select letters of john newton’
p. 90

a book that my favorite tuck bartholomew
put in my hands several years ago.

i’ll never forget his reading aloud
the last paragraph in the book, p. 191,
in the middle of a staff meeting,
the gist of it being:
thwart & confound our best planning
unless it is what you would have.