Lord, cleanse me from every root of evil that springs up in the garden of my heart.
David Schrock, Rutherford, TN Beside the Still Waters, Volume 30, Issue 5

Struggle

It is not a sin to struggle but it can be become sin if we allow dark thoughts and feelings to dominate our mind and control our life.
Those who overcome darkness are best able to spread light.
Denver Yoder, Somers, Beside the Still Waters, Volume 30, Issue 5

John H. Gurney

Keep peaceful in the midst of strife.
Forgiving and forgiv’n
O may, we lead the pilgrim life,
and follow the to heav’n
Beside the Still Waters, Volume 30 Issue 5.

2 Corinthians 12:9

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”..

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.

”whose grief was not for what … did not have, but for what … could not give.

p. 249, The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle

We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created to love and to be loved .

The stakes are sky-high. If Americans want to control their fate, if they truly want to innovate, if they want to forge an ethical future, if they really care about themselves and the environment, then they need to start making things for themselves.

Page 29, Making it in America, Rachel Slade.

Life is like the moon –
now dark, now full.

old farmer’s almanac:

full sturgeon moon 08/09/25
new moon 08/23/25

Hope is heavy sometimes
and other times
It becomes your wings
and lifts you up.
That’s the thing about hope
sometimes you carry it
and sometimes it carries you.

Kristin Kory, Hungry for Ghosts

Economic independence, freedom, solidarity – these were the foundational principles of the United States.

Making in in America, Rachel Slade, p. 8

We are all time travelers, journeying together into the future we want to visit. Be brave, be determined, overcome the odds. It can be done.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due. When it is in the power of your hand to do so.