| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: your tears, Ilbrahim, and be my child, as I will be your mother."
The good woman prepared the little bed, from which her own
children had successively been borne to another resting-place.
Before Ilbrahim would consent to occupy it, he knelt down, and as
Dorothy listened to his simple and affecting prayer, she
marvelled how the parents that had taught it to him could have
been judged worthy of death. When the boy had fallen asleep, she
bent over his pale and spiritual countenance, pressed a kiss upon
his white brow, drew the bedclothes up about his neck, and went
away with a pensive gladness in her heart.
Tobias Pearson was not among the earliest emigrants from the old
Twice Told Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: woven you may go; if not you must stay here and
starve." With that the Spider King uttered a peculiar
whistle and all the spiders disappeared.
"There is more magic in my fairyland than I dreamed
of," remarked the beautiful Ozma, with a sigh of regret.
"It seems that my laws have not been obeyed, for even
these monstrous spiders defy me by means of Magic."
"Never mind that now," said Dorothy; "let's see what
we can do to get out of this trap."
They now examined the web with great care and were
amazed at its strength. Although finer than the finest
Glinda of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: comfort him with the Gospel and embrace him like a mother. When you
meet a willful sinner who does not care, go after him and rebuke him
sharply." But this is not the treatment for one who has been overtaken by a
sin and is sorry. He must be dealt with in the spirit of meekness and not in
the spirit of severity. A repentant sinner is not to be given gall and vinegar
to drink.
VERSE 1. Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
This consideration is very much needed to put a stop to the severity of
some pastors who show the fallen no mercy. St. Augustine says: "There is
no sin which one person has committed, that another person may not
commit it also." We stand in slippery places. If we become overbearing and
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