Literary Gifts

Since Christmas is coming and I love literary gifts. Especially ones that make you think and consider your own thoughts and feelings. I thought I would share some quotes from one of my favorite books I never would have read. I was looking for a gift for a friend a soul sister. Not someone who I hang out with. Someone most of my friends don't know but I have a closeness to that can not be broken no matter what. Our hearts are tied with the strings of her children's shoes. The kids are getting older now but when young I loved her them as though they were my own. I would do anything for her or them then or now. But since we made a grave mistake and mixed business with pleasure we have not spoke in over a year. Maybe later in life this will be different. Not that I do not think of her and her children all the time. But today I feel a closeness that I can not let go of. I think of the kids on their birthdays though I am terrible with remembering hers. At Christmas maybe 3 or 4 years ago I bought this book for her and before I gave it to her I read it. It is such a good book I have bought more copies and given them away.

The book was originally printed in 1955 but it speaks to me today as though it was just written. I found it ironic that in 1955 she knew that the modern conveniences of the day were at times more trouble than they were worth.Written while the author spent time alone on Captiva Island, Florida The book Gifts from the Sea the author Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Yes, that Lindbergh. Mrs. Charles Lindbergh. If you don't know who he is stop reading now and Google it I will wait...

I never knew Mrs. Lindbergh was an author and the strangest thing was where I found the book was not with the fiction but with the religious books. I always bought my friend's kids books that I loved from my youth. So with her I thought I would find something that spelled out the words I do not always have to say. We have shared our thoughts on life and politics and religion and our spiritualism. This book sums up things beautifully. The words are so well thought out and perfectly arranged.  So I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes from the book with you. This first one sums it all up for why I bought the book.

“I want first of all... to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact--to borrow from the language of the saints--to live "in grace" as much of the time as possible. I am not using this term in a strictly theological sense. By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony. I am seeking perhaps what Socrates asked for in the prayer from the Phaedrus when he said, "May the outward and inward man be one." I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant to in the eye of God.” ― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

In life there is nothing I want more than harmony and grace. A peaceful state for my mind. I think in another life I could have been a nun. I could pray my day away. I could work for nothing but the satisfaction of doing a good job and being rewarded in Heaven. Not at the job I do today or ever before but to toil in a garden to raise food for the hungry or to help those who need it most in this world.

“My Life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.” 
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I find this to be so true. If I could only do all the things people expect of me. I know I have no children of my own you do not need to remind me of this fact that does not mean that I do not have my own things to do.

“Only love can be divided endlessly and still not diminish.” 
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh

This is priceless. Some people think if you love one person you can not love me. Well love is everlasting and ever changing. It is not fair to the one that shares their love for someone else to limit who they can love.

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can only collect a few. One moon shell is more impressive than three. There is only one moon in the sky.” 
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

There is nothing more satisfying to me than to walk the beach staring at the sand and wondering what is just out of site. When I finally see that amazing shell so perfect and passed over by so many others I think it must be here just for me.

This also reminds me of a funny story. One evening after a storm Brian and I were walking the beach and I saw a live shell so I picked it up and tossed it into the water out of reach of those that may think it was theirs to take home. Take what you may but if it is still alive toss it back and let it live another day. A few feet more I picked up another and tossed it back and again and again and again. I had not gone very far but I had tossed back a dozen living things and Brian said Jeanne look up. I looked down the beach and there were hundreds of shells just as the ones I had been tossing back into the water. He said, Honey you can not save them all. That made me sad. I have a hard time with the thought that this one should live and that should not but I guess if God wanted them all to live he would get them back to the water safely.

“One writes not to be read but to breathe...one writes to think, to pray, to analyze. One writes to clear one's mind, to dissipate one's fears, to face one's doubts, to look at one's mistakes--in order to retrieve them. One writes to capture and crystallize one's joy, but also to disperse one's gloom. Like prayer--you go to it in sorrow more than joy, for help, a road back to 'grace'." 
— Anne Morrow Lindbergh (War Within and Without: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh 1939-1944)” 
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Wartime Writings 1939-1944

This quote is from a different book but I think this describes perfectly why I write what I write. It is not that this is a leisure endeavor. Sometimes the things I write will spin around my head until I put them on paper. They come to me at all times of the day and night. Some I ignore but they will not be ignored. If I do not have time now. I will later because they do not go away. 

Do not stop here but give yourself a Literary Gift. Take the time to enjoy the quiet and appreciate the here and now. For tomorrow they will be gone.