1. My God is sooo much more merciful than I let Him be -
I don't mean that I am in the position to 'let' God do or be anything or not do or be anything. I mean that some of my ideas or thoughts regarding Him aren't true, and then those false beliefs keep me from fully experiencing God and all His attributes. Now back to the statement - Seriously, I grind myself to powder when I mess things up, even about the simplest things. I demand a lot higher level of performance than God does of me because I keep demanding perfection of myself. God doesn't demand perfection. He knows my frame. He knows that I am only dust. He knows that I will fail, but He also is willing to forgive me, if only I humble myself before him. Yet, so much of the time, I don't accept His mercy. Long after He would forgive me if only I asked, I keep smearing the same things in my own face.
2. He is so patient with me -
I don't have a courageous heart. Sometimes I pretend I do. Actually, a lot of the time I pretend I do because ever since I was little, it has felt like I was dying inside as I did the simplest, simplest things that everyone else did in a breeze. And when you think you're weak, everything becomes hard. There's so many things that scare me. Some days I'm left with the greatest fear - that fear will keep me from doing the things God has for me. In this allegory, the main character is Much Afraid.
"She did not realize that the Prince of Love is 'of very tender compassion to them that are afraid.' She supposed that, like everybody else, he was despising her for her silly fears."
"She did not realize that the Prince of Love is 'of very tender compassion to them that are afraid.' She supposed that, like everybody else, he was despising her for her silly fears."
But that right there. 'Very tender compassion'. I cannot hardly fathom the whole meaning of that, but even in its vague immensity, my heart quakes. He has given me this weakness so that I might turn to Him every passing moment. He does not despise me.
3. It made me realize there is more importance to the whole 'one day you will receive new names and crowns' -
I never really thought much about that part - the crowns and new names. I mean...maybe they spoke of the crowns because of how we then will give them to Jesus. And a new name? I hardly knew what that meant, but in this allegory, the new name part fit. Much Afraid became Grace and Glory. Maybe ours will not be so drastically different, and maybe I still don't understand the 'why', but I know now there is significance. In the story, Much Afraid collected these stones every time she sacrificed her will for God's or did the thing that was most against her nature to follow God's command. When she reached the High Places, the Shepherd took the stones and turned them into jewels that He placed on her crown. Maybe that isn't exactly the purpose of the crown, but it is a beautiful thought.
4. When God looks at me, He already sees who I will eventually be -
In the Bible, it says when God looks at us, He sees what Jesus did, but the idea that He sees us as the individuals we will be in Heaven? It's such an incredibly humbling thought. Sometimes I get all befuddled because of how God is all around time but not confined by it. He knows we are simple humans full of faults, and yet He sees our beauty. He sees our potential as if already reached, but of course He can. After all, He created us.
Other Quotes:
"Always go forward along the path of obedience as far as you know it until I intervene, even if it seems to be leading you where you fear I could never mean you to go."
"Even their wild, mournful cries and the moanings of the water stirred in her a sorrow which was strangely beautiful. She had the feeling that somehow, in the very far-off places, perhaps even in far-off ages, there would be a meaning found to all sorrow and an answer too far and wonderful to be as yet understood."
What books have you read that really struck a chord with you? What do you think of allegories? What do you think of these quotes and ideas?
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