Now that I have the responsibility of teaching English Writing classes, I figured It would be a wise idea to do as much reading as possible. The best writers are the best readers-right?
Thankfully my Dad sent me here with a great read; Randy Frazee's Think Act Believe Like Jesus. On top of that I'm also slowly digesting Thomas Merton's book No Man Is An Island (slow and steady on this one) as well as Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (funny lady). I bounce back and forth between these three and I've really enjoyed all of them.
Here's an excerpt from Thomas Merton's book that I've been chewing on recently.
Thomas Merton's No Man Is An Island
Pure Intention
The man of simple intention, because he is essentially a contemplative, works always in an atmosphere of prayer. I do not say merely that he works in an atmosphere of peace. Anyone who works sanely at a job he likes can do as much as that. But the man of simple intention works in an atmosphere of prayer: that is to say he is recollected. His spiritual reserves are not all poured out into his work, but stored where they belong, in the depths of his being, with his God. He is detached from his work and from its results. Only a man who works purely for God can at the same time do a very good job and leave the results of the job to God alone. If our intention is less than simple, we may do a very good job, but in doing so we will become involved in the hope of results that will satisfy ourselves. If our intention is less than right we will be concerned neither for the job nor its results, because we have not bothered to take a personal interest in either of them.
A simple intention rests in God while accomplishing all things. It takes account of particular ends in order to achieve them for Him; but it does not rest in them. Since a simple intention does not need to rest in any particular end, it has already reached the end as soon as the work is begun. For the end of a simple intention is to work in God and with Him- to sink deep roots into the soil of His will and to grow there in whatever weather He may bring.