When I am running around in my brain and I hit a stump, it's time to turn to my little book that will be 24-years old this 3rd of May. The pages are underlined, stared and marginal notes abound. The white space about the chapter titles are filled with comments. Many pages have dog-ears. In short, it is well-worn!
It's inspirational. It's common sense. It's wisdom seed already planted that grows in the strangest of places with the strangest of fruit pods, but fruit that feeds the soul from time to time with a dose of seasoned vitamins that have never left me feeling empty or hungry.
Some of you have read of, A Touch of Wonder. You have read about my love for this book, but more of how I am inspired by its author, Arthur Gordon. Gordon, not just doing it, but doing it on purpose. That always reminded me of the guy who just could not wait to get around you in traffic, but later, his rush had stopped him ahead. It might have been a radar cop. It might have been a funeral procession crossing in front, or even worse, a horrible accident itself. But, for all those years, I had not thought about the other meaning found in the same chapter. That was until today. It is even amazing how Author Gordon viewed both to put into the chapter. Picking up on the one theme was right there. Yet, picking up on the second theme did not reveal itself to me for all those years until today. Perhaps I was not ready to discover it before today, or perhaps, it was purposeful pausing after all.
Originally, Gordon was on one of the classic liners that we all know so well today because of the Titanic movie. The cruise ships today are entirely a different class of service, for sure. But, he came across a portion of Robert Louis Stevenson's writings in the ship's library. Stevenson had written: "Extreme busyness, whether at school, kirk (church) or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality." Robert Stevenson continued to say: "It is no good speaking to such folk: they can not be idle, their nature is not generous enough."
Never, has a man been so correct in his observations and I wonder today, what more he would have written of those people today? One thing is most likely. Robert Louis Stevenson and Arthur Gordon would have stopped their deficient vitality and fed their Soul. They both, knew the value of the Soul growing.
Ref:
Gordon, Arthur, A Touch of Wonder, 1974 Fleming H Revell Company, pp 210-18
31st Jan 2015 to update text
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| From the Trees with Character Series |
It's inspirational. It's common sense. It's wisdom seed already planted that grows in the strangest of places with the strangest of fruit pods, but fruit that feeds the soul from time to time with a dose of seasoned vitamins that have never left me feeling empty or hungry.
Some of you have read of, A Touch of Wonder. You have read about my love for this book, but more of how I am inspired by its author, Arthur Gordon. Gordon, not just doing it, but doing it on purpose. That always reminded me of the guy who just could not wait to get around you in traffic, but later, his rush had stopped him ahead. It might have been a radar cop. It might have been a funeral procession crossing in front, or even worse, a horrible accident itself. But, for all those years, I had not thought about the other meaning found in the same chapter. That was until today. It is even amazing how Author Gordon viewed both to put into the chapter. Picking up on the one theme was right there. Yet, picking up on the second theme did not reveal itself to me for all those years until today. Perhaps I was not ready to discover it before today, or perhaps, it was purposeful pausing after all.
Originally, Gordon was on one of the classic liners that we all know so well today because of the Titanic movie. The cruise ships today are entirely a different class of service, for sure. But, he came across a portion of Robert Louis Stevenson's writings in the ship's library. Stevenson had written: "Extreme busyness, whether at school, kirk (church) or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality." Robert Stevenson continued to say: "It is no good speaking to such folk: they can not be idle, their nature is not generous enough."
Never, has a man been so correct in his observations and I wonder today, what more he would have written of those people today? One thing is most likely. Robert Louis Stevenson and Arthur Gordon would have stopped their deficient vitality and fed their Soul. They both, knew the value of the Soul growing.
Ref:
Gordon, Arthur, A Touch of Wonder, 1974 Fleming H Revell Company, pp 210-18
31st Jan 2015 to update text
