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How can you measure the
influence
that a book can have on your life?
In our family, reading has been an
important part of our life; our grandmother was
a librarian for twenty-five years, and our father owned a Christian bookstore
during our childhood and preteens. Also our times
together as a family, reading exciting adventure books late into the night when
we were younger, making memories. Being avid readers and having unlimited
access to books, our Father and Mother decided to preview all books before we
devoured them; this eliminated the possibility of our reading anything that
could be harmful to our spiritual walk with God. Each year for our
birthdays and holidays, they would buy us a few books, slowly adding to our
collection as we have gotten older. As we have accumulated our family
library, which contains thousands of books, we have striven to only buy what
glorified the Lord, displayed good and godly attitudes, and properly handled
consequences of sin. Hundreds of biographies, spiritual writings of old
and godly church leaders, classics, and character building novels line our
bookshelves. The Lord has blessed us with many old finds and treasures,
ones we are eager to share and tell others about so that they can benefit as
well.
Our attention has been drawn to a series of books penned in the
late 1800's. The author, Isabella MadDonald Alden, more commonly known by
her pen name of "Pansy." She has written over 50 books, most of
which have been out of print for many years. We have found them in rare
and old book shops, antique stores, or through antiquarian book websites. As
far as enjoyable novel reading goes, these books are the most spiritually
challenging that we have ever read, addressing subjects such as:
a holy vs. temporal focus in life
being faithful in little things
doing what is right with a perfect heart
proper conduct/manner of life
whole-hearted devotion to God
the harm of gossip
what is proper on the Sabbath
churches that condone worldliness
working in the Lord's harvest
healing of strained relationships
the growth/maturity of a soul
cheerfully perfomring mundane tasks the Lord gives us
livng with unsaved family while keeping your faith and peace
Although some of the books do have minor romance, in that
characters do marry sometimes, few if any details are given. Here are some
of our favorite quotes from several of the books:
"It makes no difference the provocation.
(I) am a follower of the meek and lowely Jesus,
and He is the only standard by which to measure life."
"A Christian home...it cannot simply mean a home where Christ is honored.
It rather means a home where everything pertaining to it serves His cause.
The very furniture and the light and the brightness are made to do duty for Him,
else they have no place there; and I, laveled Christian, have no right to
them."
"Hereafter, when I feel particularly tried with a person,
I shall know that I am myself at fault towards that person,
and shall ask God for a speical view of my own heart concerning it."
The last book Pansy wrote was an autobiography entitled Memories
of Yesterdays . Here is a quote (that we thought was especially
appropriate) from a letter she wrote to her niece when Grace was wanting her to
write mordern updates on her most popular characters:
"About the story which you want me to write, my dear, you have altogether too high an opinion of me. I am not capable of writing a story suited to the tastes of present day young people.... I haven't faith in them, nor in my ability to help them... I think we all realize in these days that even Jesus Christ is not popular. Therefore we who want to follow Him closely must not try to be. My very first little story books were written with a single distinct purpose in view, given over to the desire and determination to win soulds for Jesus Christ. The longer I wrote and the older I grew, that was my central purpose. I saw the trend away from Christ long ago. I recognized the downward trend not only in girls and boys, but in their mothers and teachers and pastors. I came by degrees to understand that the class of young people to whom I had dedicated my life had made a distinct descent, and that for me to do dishonor Jesus Christ. I determined never to do it. I never have... I dedicated my pen to the direct and continuous effort to win others for Christ and helfp others to closer fellowship with Him."
May we be the exception in our time!
