Favorite Quotes of the Week

One of the best things about being a humanities major is being "assigned" to read some of the most wonderful works of literature ever written. I often come across certain quotes in my reading that are so beautiful or so thought-provoking that I want to share them with everyone and exclaim, "Isn't that amazing!" Well, the beautiful thing about having a blog is that I can talk about whatever I want to, and then if people want to read it, they can. If not, then I don't have to bore them with my passion that might not be as interesting to them.

Anyway, so these are my quotes for the week:

This one is from My Antonia, by Willa Cather. I thought this was just a beautiful passage particularly appropriate for this time of year:

"All those fall afternoons were the same, but I never got used to them. As far as we could see, the miles of copper-red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of the day. The blond cornfields were red gold, the haystacks turned rosy and threw long shadows. The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed. That hour always had the exultation of victory, of triumphant ending, like a hero's death-heroes who died young and gloriously. It was a sudden transfiguration, a lifting-up of day."

My next quote comes from Mark Twain's "The War Prayer." I thought this was particularly thought provoking during this time of economic and political unrest because it requires us to really think about what we pray for and why. The story is about a congregation that meets to pray for their soldiers who are going off to war. The minister prays for the safety and success of the soldiers. Then an old man in the congregation walks to the front and tells everyone that he is a messenger from God and that God has heard the minister's prayer. This is what the messenger tells the people:

" He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I[...]have explained its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of-except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can by injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer-The uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it-that part which the pastor-and also you in your hearts- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. [...]When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory.... Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

'O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle-be Thou near them! With them-in spirit-we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.'

(After a pause) 'Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits."

Now, I'm not really trying to make a political statement about the war in Iraq. Despite its cynicism, I like this quote because it really makes us think about what consequences others must suffer if we recieve all the things we pray for. So when you pray, be careful what you pray for because you just might get it-all of it, whether you really wanted it or not. (by the way, these images are courtesy of http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/)

My third favorite quote of the week is also attributed to Mark Twain, but I haven't been able to find an actual verifiable source that guarantees that he really said it. But whoever said or wrote it was very inspiring:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”


This quote has had quite an impact on me. I have been thinking for a long while now about going to Washington DC to do an internship. Since I will be graduating soon, I thought now would be a great time to try to do it. So taking that Mark Twain quote to heart, I applied to BYU's Washington Seminar knowing that it was something I would regret not taking advantage of if I let it pass me by without even trying to get accepted. So I filled out the application, completed the interview, and what do you know?! I got accepted! Now I just need to finish my applications for internships. I am really interested in doing something at the Smithsonian in one of their MANY museums in DC. So keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll keep everyone posted on what I hear back from them. As it is right now, it looks like I'll be leaving for DC in January, and I won't be back until April. That means I have to find someone to rent my condo for a few months and figure out what to do with Buster.

Well, thats all for now, folks! Until next time, au revoir!

Fall Fun

I love Fall! There's nothing quite like those fresh, crisp fall mornings, hazy afternoons when the leaves are ablaze with color, cheering at a football game, or biting into a sweet crunchy apple. These are the things I love about this season.

Ammon has been kind enough to share his friends with me, and we've all had a lot of fun going on hikes together and watching the football games (GO COUGARS). In the midst of the research papers and essays I am working on for my classes, these diversions have been quite welcome.

A couple of weeks ago we hiked all the way from Rock Canyon, behind Y mountain through some beautiful meadows, and then came out at the Y. It ended up being about a 6 hour hike because the trail forked several times and sometimes we chose the wrong path and ended up having to back track. One of the detours we took was well worth it, however, because we got to see a beautiful valley with gorgeous fall colored leaves all around that we would have missed if we had taken the other route.