宋燕迪

@lucysong / lucysong.tumblr.com

a collective

Don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. 'Yes' is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.

Stephen Colbert

Every Woman’s Call to Work

Often our circumstances are not ideal, and the call to lay down our lives to meet others’ needs takes many different forms.

www.desiringgod.org

A very comprehensive and timely word.

The lesson of wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul-trouble ... Cast not away your confidence, for it hath great recompense of reward. Even if the enemy's foot be on your neck, expect to rise amid overthrow him. Cast the burden of the present, along with the sin of the past and the fear of the future, upon the Lord, who forsaketh not his saints.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

One of the stunning realities of the Christian life is that in a world where everything is in some state of decay, God’s mercies never grow old. They never run out. They never are ill timed. They never dry up. They never grow weak. They never get weary. They never fail to meet the need. They never disappoint. They never, ever fail, because they really are new every morning. Formfitted for the challenges, disappointments, sufferings, temptations, and struggles with sin within and without are the mercies of our Lord. Sometimes they are: Awe-inspiring mercies Rebuking mercies Strengthening mercies Hope-giving mercies Heart-exposing mercies Rescuing mercies Transforming mercies Forgiving mercies Provision-making mercies Uncomfortable mercies Glory-revealing mercies Truth-illumining mercies Courage-giving mercies. God’s mercies don’t come in one color; no, they come in every shade of every color of the rainbow of his grace. God’s mercies are not the sound of one instrument; no, they sound the note of every instrument of his grace. God’s mercy is general; all of his children bask in his mercy. God’s mercy is specific; each child receives the mercy that is designed for his or her particular moment of need. God’s mercy is predictable; it is the fountain that never stops flowing. God’s mercy is unpredictable; it comes to us in surprising forms. God’s mercy is a radical theology, but it is more than a theology; it is life to all who believe. God’s mercy is ultimate comfort, but it is also a call to a brand-new way of living. God’s mercy really does change everything forever, for all upon whom this mercy is bestowed.

Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies

How Could A Doctor's Death From Ebola Possibly Be 'Good'?

The World’s Joy-Tragedy

www.desiringgod.org

In his classic book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis delivers a profound insight into the psychological engine that pulls along the drama of history. “All that we call human history — money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery — is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” Or to say this even more foundationally: the driving motive in history is the desire for happiness. Think of it, everything from slavery to prostitution to racism to terrorism to extortion to abortion to the ignition of world wars — it’s all driven by a desire for happiness apart from God. ... At root, sin is not wrongdoing, it’s wrong adoring. Sin is riveting our hearts on any treasure or security that replaces the treasure and security we can only find in God.

5 Things Jonathan Edwards Teaches Us about the Christian Life

www.crossway.org

If you’re a Christian, you don’t realize how radically different and freshly empowered you now are.
Even if you’re a Christian, you don’t realize how radically fallen and blindly dysfunctional you remain.
Authentic discipleship to Jesus Christ calms and gentle-izes (not radicalizes and excites) Christians.
Christianity is gain, and only gain.
Revival is not what you think it is.

Gettysburg, PA

The Bible Has Power

Today, we receive our revelation through the Bible. It's where we need to go to discover who God is and why we were created. You need to read the Bible because you're a human being. You simply don't have the capacity to understand life without divine help. Without God's Word, your existence won't make any sense.

It Is Finished (Good Friday)

www.desiringgod.org

It is Friday, April 3, A.D. 33. It is the darkest day in human history, though most humans have no clue of this. In Rome, Tiberius attends to the demanding business of the empire. Throughout the inhabited world, babies are born, people eat and drink, marry and are given in marriage, barter in marketplaces, sail merchant ships, and fight battles. Children play, old women gossip, young men lust, and people die.

But today, one death, one brutal, gruesome death, the worst and best of all human deaths, will leave upon the canvas of human history the darkest brushstroke. In Jerusalem, God the Son, the Creator of all that is (John 1:3), will be executed.

How to make stress your friend

Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.

Life is a game. This is your strategy guide.

oliveremberton.com

Some surprisingly useful/practical tidbits here (with the disclaimer that there's obviously more to life than just figuring out how to "hack" it), but mostly sharing just because I find the graphics amusing!

Piper, Platt, and Chandler on God’s Goodness in Your Pain

thegospelcoalition.org

Awareness of the bigness and majesty and sovereignty of God practically help those in the throes of perplexity and pain.

In which the nurse is tired of being a student and wishes to return to patient care

Hannah: I just want to touch people.

Lucy: Eh?

Hannah: I just want to tell people what's wrong with them!

Lucy: Hm...

Something You Can't Destroy

I don't know if you’ve realized this or not, but the Bible is a story of people who messed up again and again. The Bible isn’t a record of noble people who always made the right choice. The people of the Bible look familiar and human because they have the same attitudes that we do and take the same actions that we tend to take.

But here’s the beautiful thing about the messy people in the Bible - God's plan of redemption continued to march forward. It's something that they couldn't destroy, no matter how many mistakes they made. Redemption was - and still is - rooted in God's faithfulness.

Embrace Your Otherness

thegospelcoalition.org

Here is what you must come to see: what the lunch table calls your enemy I call your friend. "Otherness" is a sensation not to be dulled or diminished but to be cultivated and cherished. So, though it goes against every mothering instinct, I will not pull the thorn from your flesh, not because I want to withhold comfort, but because there is no true comfort in a lie. This world is not our home. We are sojourners, travelers on our way to the only true comfort the human heart can know. I will not help you populate your life with things that lessen your grip on this reality.

So Asian nerdy

Vicky: I like the name Eleanor. Ellie for short.

Lucy: Yeah, it's so classic.

Vicky: Mhm, and Ellie is so cute!

Lucy: That's why I also like the name Evelyn.

Vicky: Evelyn?

Lucy: Yeah, Evy/Evie (Ehh-vee) for short.

Vicky: Isn't that a Pokémon?

Lucy: That's Eevee.

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