MY GOD AND I

My God and I go in the field together,

We walk and talk as good friends should and do.

We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,

My God and I walk through the meadow's hue. 

He tells me of the years that went before me, 

When heav'n-ly plans were made for me to be.

When all was but a dream of dim conception,

To come to life, earth's verdant glory see.

My God and I will go for aye together,

We'll walk and talk as good friends ever do.

This earth will pass and with it common trifles

But God and I will go unendingly. 

- J.B. Sergei

THE HUMAN HEART

The human heart has hidden treasures;

In secret kept, in silence sealed;

The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, 

the pleasures,

Whose charms were broken if revealed.

- Charlotte Bronte

THE GARDENER

"An anonymous text from the Tradition says that, in life, each person can take one of two attitudes: to build or to plant. The builders might take years over their tasks, but one day they finish what they are doing. Then they find they're hemmed in by their own walls. Life loses its meaning when the building stops.

Then there are those who plant. They endure storms and all the many vicissitudes of the season, and they rarely rest. But, unlike a building, a garden never stops growing. And while it requires the gardener's constant attention, it also allows life for the gardener to be a great adventure. Gardeners always recognise each other because they know that in the history of each plant lies the growth of the whole world."

- Paulo Coelho, Brida

HOPE

'Hope' is the thing with feathers - 

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard-

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I've heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of Me.

- Emily Dickinson

THE LOVING HEART OF THE SAVIOUR

"I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Saviour of the world when He finds that His people do not feel confident in His care or secure in His hands."

- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Come Unto Me, Ensign April 1998, p 19

A LOST SHEEP

"Jesus taught a parable about a lost sheep. Remember the shepherd who left the 'ninety and nine' to go in search of the one (Luke 15:4)? When I was younger I always felt bad for the ninety-nine who were left behind while the shepherd paid so much attention to just one. Now I realize that by caring so much about the one, the shepherd was also communicating his love for the ninety-nine.  What if the shepherd had said, 'Hey, I'm not going to take time to go find that dumb lost sheep. He has a big nose and frizzy wool anyway.' Even if the ninety-nine laughed, they probably would have been thinking, 'Is that how he is going to act when I get lost?' By seeking the lost sheep, the shepherd helped all the others feel more secure."

- Brad Wilcox

GOD'S SECRET MESSENGERS

"God seeks out the humblest and sometimes those who think themselves wholly unworthy. But He sees into the soul of those whose struggle is hard and whose rewards are meager, whose fears are so terrible and whose salvation they fear forever in doubt. These are also true servants. These are God's secret messengers, unsuspected because so unassuming."

- Melvyn Bragg, Credo

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one

less travelled by,

and that has made

all the difference.

-  Robert Frost