Jayne Bowers

Whenever I'm browsing through a bookstore or library, I stroll along picking up books and peeking inside. The things I've learned by following this practice are amazing! Plus, if an author really piques my curiosity or interest, I'll usually decide to read more of the book. On this page, you'll find excerpts from Musings that I hope you'll enjoy enough to consider buying your own copy. I've also added a short passage from Seas the Day, a photojournal of beach scenes and reflections.  In the right column, you'll find quotes from from other books that will give you "food for thought." Enjoy!

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Mine:

I'll change this excerpt regularly, and this month's is about communication, especially the listening part.

Can You Hear Me Now?

1 Samuel 1:4

“That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.”

I have to laugh a little as I hear myself saying, “Can you hear me now?” or “How about now?” as I walk into another room or go nearer a window. I sound a little like a cell phone commercial as I try to communicate with the person on the other end.

Why are our messages sometimes garbled? Why do they “break up?” What does it mean to be in a so-called “dead area” when we’re trying to communicate with our Heavenly Father? Are these the spots that are caused by anger, resentment, selfishness, or jealousy? What about my behavior? Would more scripture study and prayer increase my receptivity to the spirit?

When I’m on my cell phone talking to a loved one, it’s important that I get the message loud and clear. Isn’t it just as important that I get the Lord’s messages loud and clear? I want to be like Samuel who heard God so distinctly that he awoke from slumber and said, “Here am I.”

I need to better cultivate my listening ability so that if I should receive a wake-up call from God, there’ll be no static on the line. Some of the best advice I’ve ever read came from Henry B. Eyring: “Your problem and mine is not to get God to speak to us; few of us have reached the point where he has been compelled to turn away from us. Our problem is to hear.”

Musings of a Missionary Mom

Beach Cathedral

from Seas the Day

Confession. Katherine, Elizabeth, and I didn’t go to church last Sunday, at least not in the traditional sense. Together at the beach on the day before school officially began for us on Monday, we decided to visit the strand itself. We told ourselves that we were going worship the Creator in one of His most beautiful and soul stirring “cathedrals,” the beach.

That’s what we did too. To assuage my conscience, I stuck religious literature in my bag and read one of the magazines from cover to cover. As we traipsed along the boardwalk, Katherine suggested that we talk about how grateful we were for all of our many blessings, and right away we began enumerating them: the ocean, the sea birds, the sun, the pretty flowers along the sandy path, family, friends, sisterhood, jobs that we enjoy, energy to do our jobs, the laughter of children, health, the sound of music, their granny (my mother), laughter, and a long list of other things that we thought of. We also discussed how memory itself can be a blessing (depending on what you’re remembering), and we decided to store up the memories of our time together to take out and savor at a later time…when we were feeling stressed, melancholy, or out-of-sorts.

The three of us munched on Red Delicious apples and drank some cool, clear water as we chatted about the new beginnings all of us had in store the next day. Then reluctantly we packed up our stuff and left for home.  It’s not the way we usually spend our Sundays, but the three of us feel fine about it. More keenly aware of our blessings and of the power of prayer, we’re glad we spent our day at the beach cathedral.

“Does the song of the sea end at the shore or in the hearts of those who listen to it?”      Kahil Gibran

“It’s hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written, but I know it’s true….Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Stephen King, On Writing

"No one is going to ask you if you think these laws are fair, or if think they should exist. Like the law of gravity, they simply are."  Phil McGraw

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least." Goethe

"No matter what form our job or activity takes, the content is the same as everyone else's; we are here to minister to human hearts. If we talk to anyone, or see anyone, or even think of anyone, then we have the oportunity to bring more love into the universe." Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

"Whatever happens around you, don't take it personally....Nothing other people do is because of you." Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

“God's will most often happens in spite of us, not because of us....God's will is not hidden like a buried treasure. We do nothave to control or force it.We do not have to walk on eggshells in order to have it happen" Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go

"I must find a balance somewhere, or an alternating rhythm between these two extremes; a swinging of the pendulum between solitude and communion, between retreat and return." Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From The Sea