Grab Life by the Mane

Greetings blog-world.

I’m not sure about you, but I’m having a hard time paying attention today.  With the long weekend ahead, I am getting a bit jittery.  Not to mention, Atlanta has been, for the most part, absolutely fabulous this week. Low 70’s. Warm sunshine. A nice cool breeze. Hardly a cloud in the brilliant blue sky. The smell of fresh jasmine permeating the air. With this distractingly beautiful weather and Memorial Day weekend ahead, I’ve been needing a little extra motivation to keep me sitting still in my office throughout the work day.

I came across this quote, printed it out, and it has been really inspiring to me this week. So naturally, I thought I would pass it along in case you were a little bit distracted today like I am. The quote is apparently by Mark Batterson, who I am not personally familiar with so you will have to correct me if I am in the wrong.

“Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion.” 
Mark Batterson

Have you recently come across a quote that you loved? It doesn’t have to be your favorite quote ever. I don’t think I could even narrow down what my all-time favorite quote is. I have a working list of quotes that I add to regularly and I like them all for different reasons and seasons.

Here is one of my Mom’s:

“Faith is not clinging to a shrine, but an endless pilgrimage of the heart, audacious longing, burning songs, daring thoughts, an impulse overwhelming the heart, usurping the mind- these are all a drive toward serving Him who rings our hearts like a bell.” 
– Abraham Joshua Heschel

And finally, here is Amanda’s:

“What’s that smell? Is that a snuck?” 
-Jackson Jones

We hope you have a fantastic Holiday weekend.  Take life in.  You are loved. 
The Moore-Jones-Fitzpatrick women. 

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200 Responses to “Grab Life by the Mane”

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Comments:

  1. 151
    Mark Batterson says:

    Glad you like the manifesto!

    Mark

  2. 152
    Melissa says:

    Mark, I’m so glad that you dropped by. I’m hoping to get my hands on a couple of your books this week. Thanks for using your words to inspire so many of us.

    Cordially,
    Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick

  3. 153
    Anonymous says:

    I love quotes! Here’s one of my favorites…no idea of the author…

    HAVE A GREAT DAY, UNLESS YOU’VE MADE OTHER PLANS.

    Remember to pray for our troops and their families.

    Little Monkey’s Mama

  4. 154
    Mary Watkins says:

    “Even though I’m almost seventy years old, I got a lot to learn too. I used to spend a lotta time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks…..But I found out everybody’s different–the same kind of different as me. We’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us.

    The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless–just workin our way toward home.”

    Denver Moore
    The last few lines from his book, Same Kind of Different As Me.

  5. 155
    Anonymous says:

    Be the kind of woman, that when you wake up in the morning the devil says, “Oh dang! She’s awake!” – unknown

    “Pull up your big girl panties and get over it.” – Gail Pitman

    “If you don’t want to get caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing, don’t do it.” – me

    Jodi – Humble, TX

  6. 156
    Sandy says:

    I’m just loving all these quotes. Making copies of all of them! Can we just keep this going?!
    My quote of the day is from the mouth of a 4 year old boy at the nail shop yesterday. His sweet grandmother was trying to get him to behave. And I tell you, he stood up and announced to all of us, “I just don’t want to be good today, I just can’t do it!”
    Of course we all had a good laugh…for a few minutes anyway!Some days you just can’t do it. But Jesus loves us anyway.

  7. 157
    Barbra says:

    This is something I read recently that I’ve been mulling over…
    “The next step in the journey of equality is to get to a place where we accept that you cannot choose your neighbor. In the Global Village, distance no longer decides who is your neighbor, and ‘Love thy neighbor’ is not advice, it’s a command.” ~Bono (referring to the West’s treatment of Africans)

    Other favorite quote….
    “Do the thang, girls. Let’s just DO the thang!” ~Beth Moore =)

    Barb
    Oxford, PA

  8. 158
    Leigh Ann says:

    I’ve never been to Heaven, yet I miss it. Eden’s in my blood. The best things of life are souvenirs from Eden, appetizers of the New Earth. There’s just enough of them to keep us going, but never enough to make us satisfied with the world as it is, or ourselves as we are. We live between Eden and the New Earth, pulled toward what we once were and what we yet will be.
    RANDY ALCORN from the book Heaven

  9. 159
    Leigh Ann says:

    Christianity is not a settle-in-and-live-at-peace-with-this-world-the-way-it-is kind of religion. When Jesus said, “the truth will set you free”(John 8:32), he didn’t mean without a battle. He meant that truth would win the war of liberation in the soul. Christianity is a was. It is a declaration of all-out combat against our own sinful impulses.

    John Piper — in the book When I Don’t Desire God, How to Fight For Joy

  10. 160
    Robyn says:

    A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.

    Don’t speak unless you can improve the silence

    Poise is the act of raising an eyebrow instead of the roof

  11. 161
    AbbyLane says:

    hmm i’m a little late, but these are some of my recent favorites…

    [And he who through grace has the inner eye of his soul opened to the true beholding of the Gospels of Christ will find in them hidden manna.]

    [There are between Almighty God and a devout soul many spiritual visitings, sweet inward conversations, great gifts of grace, man consolations, much heavenly peace, and wondrous familiarity of the blessed presence of God…When you have Him, you are rich enough, and He alone will be sufficient to you.]

    (The Imitation of Christ; Thomas Kempis)

  12. 162
    Tanya says:

    I love this quote from the movie “Auntie Mame” with Rosalind Russell, especially because I need to be reminded of this so often:

    “Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet and more poor suckers are starving to death!”

  13. 163
    Anonymous says:

    FYI, the Mark Batterson quote is called the Lion Chasers Manifesto. There are Bible studies based on each of his books.

    KS

  14. 164
    Anonymous says:

    Two of my favorites at the moment…

    “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” –Oscar Wilde

    “Marriage is the operation by which a woman’s vanity and a man’s egotism are extracted without anesthetic.” –Helen Rowland

    ~melissa

  15. 165
    redoxygentank says:

    Both the below quotes are from Albert Schwietzer. The second one I have written on my mirror. It helps remind me why I’m an EMT.

    “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

    “We must all die. But that I can save him from days of torture, that is what I feel as my great and ever new privelege. Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death himself. “

  16. 166
    TraciG says:

    From my husband in his growing up years, via his father: “If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.”

    Makes me want to be smart (i.e. think about the consequences of my choices ahead of time!)

  17. 167
    Becky B. says:

    I’m late with this but love the quotes. This is from one of my heroes – Jim Elliot
    “Wherever you are; be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

    And from a favorite heroine – Ruth Bell Graham – About Ps. 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God” she wrote:
    “This goes also for those who doubt His sovereignty. Either He is sovereign or He is not. If He is not sovereign He is not God. Therefore when we become so preoccupied with and dismayed by circumstances and certain people that we doubt God’s ability to handle them in His own way and in His own time, then we, too, are fools.”
    I was saddened by her home-going a year or so ago. Just wondered, Beth if she was one of your favorites also?
    Thank you for another great post!

  18. 168
    Beth says:

    I don’t think this really counts because it was actually on a t-shirt but I loved it! I saw it a few minutes ago on a boy about 15 years old:

    Procrastinators Unite Tomorrow

    I also loved the one Traci posted that says “if you’re going to be dumb, you better be tough.”

  19. 169
    The Apple of His Eye says:

    I have another couple of my favorites if it’s okay to add:

    “A man without a woman is a bachelor. A woman without a man is a genius.”
    –Maxine

    “What comes to our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” — A.W. Tozer

  20. 170
    Anonymous says:

    A couple of quotes that have stuck with me even though I dont remember the source,

    “Sometimes God quiets the storm, and sometimes he lets the storm rage and calmly quiets his child.”

    “When God puts his child in the furnace, he keeps his eye on the clock and his hand on the thermostat.”

  21. 171
    mitzi says:

    Love the quotes! One of my favorites is by John Newton..

    I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak to humbly obey.
    I asked for health, that I might do great things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
    I asked for riches, that I might be happy, I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
    I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God.
    I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life, I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
    I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.
    Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
    I am among all men most richly blessed.

  22. 172
    Lauren says:

    “The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It my seem much worse, but in the end it’s going to be a lot better and a lot bigger.”
    ~Elisabeth Elliot

  23. 173
    Lindsee Lou says:

    Okay, I love, love, love that quote you shared with us. I just copy and pasted it so I’ll have it forever now! However, at the moment I can’t think of my favorite quote, but, I’ll be thinking! I’m a huge quote girl, as well! Hope your weekend was great, Melissa!

  24. 174
    Lori says:

    When you trip in life, make it part of your dance.
    author unknown

  25. 175
    Anonymous says:

    Choas and Confusion leads to selfish ambition

  26. 176
    Anonymous says:

    “When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” George Washington Carver

  27. 177
    Allie says:

    Melissa, thanks for the challenge. I think we are too often told to not do so much… to “take care of ourselves.” While we do need to take care of ourselves, that’s not an excuse for not working hard for the Lord. Our pastor recently pointed out that now is not our time to rest. Now is our time to work… God has a great retirement package for believers!

    Conversation with my then two-year old:
    Me: Wow, I’m tired!
    Katie: I’m tired of you too. (said without missing a beat or even looking up from her playing!)

    I laughed until I cried!

  28. 178
    Kelli says:

    It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

    Theodore Roosevelt

  29. 179
    Kathy W says:

    One of my favorites:
    “We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.” Author unknown.

  30. 180
    Sharon says:

    This is awesome! A great reminder for all of us! It is a prayer from a martyred Zimbabwe Pastor.
    “I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made- I am a disciple of His. I won’t look back. let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, wordly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popluarity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in his presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me. And, when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me… my banner will be clear!
    Isn’t that great? So powerful

  31. 181
    Jenny says:

    Hey, here is a link to Mark Batterson’s new Bible study http://www.threadsmedia.com/chasethegoose He pastors a church in DC, great guy.

  32. 182
    PJB says:

    Not sure the source:

    “The juice is worth the squeeze!”

  33. 183
    Jessica S. says:

    “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
    Joseph Campbell

    I have no personal knowledge of thsi guy either but this quote sums up my testimony beautifully!

  34. 184
    Anonymous says:

    “And I, the mis-speller, seek-out and taken-in all true deeds of kindness and bring them to the True Man of Kindness… And in this, time flows. Now there is a mountain. On that mountain stands a rock, from the rock a spring comes. The spring is the heart of the rock, as everything has a heart. The world taken as a whole has a heart… But the spring has no time. It does not exist in time… The only time the spring contains is the one day which the heart grants it as a gift. The moment of the day is finished, the spring too will be without time and it will disappear. And without the spring, the heart too will perish. Thus close to the end of the day, they start to take leave one from the other with much love and longing…. As the day is about to end before it finishes… the True Man of Kindness comes and gives a gift of day to the heart. And the heart gives day to the spring. And again the spring has time.”

    –excerpt from anonymous text, for now.

    Proverbs 8.20-26/27.5

  35. 185
    pete wilson says:

    Wow! I love that quote. Mark’s a friend of mind and while I’ve never heard that from him it sounds like something he would say. I know he lives his life that way.

    Thanks again! I needed a shot in the arm today.

  36. 186
    The Farmer's Wife says:

    “She is too fond of books, and it has turned her head…”

    -Louisa May Alcott

  37. 187
    Laurie T. says:

    “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” – Jonathan Edwards

  38. 188
    Sandy says:

    Every Saint has a past and Every sinner has a future.

  39. 189
    Whitney says:

    “The only way to come to God is to take off any spiritual mask. The real you has to meet the real God. He is a person.”
    “Your heart could be and often is askew. That’s okay, you have to begin with what is real. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, he came for sinners. All of us qualify. The very things we try to get rid of – our weariness, our distractedness, our messiness – are what get us in the front door! That’s how the gospel works. That’s how prayer works.”
    Paul Miller, A Praying Life

    I just love this!

  40. 190
    Jesus Chick says:

    1.) Love will find a way. Indifference will find an excuse.

    2.) There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. -Mother Teresa

    3.) It doesn’t matter how much you’ve been through the Bible. What matters is how much the Bible has been through you!

  41. 191
    TN Girl says:

    “If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it…it’s the hard that makes it great” – Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own

    “Remember Whose you are and Whom you serve.”
    – Oswald Chambers

  42. 192
    Anonymous says:

    I know this is way late, but as I spent my weekend working with cancer survivors fighting for their lives, reading these quotes has been helpful to me.
    One of my faves, stuck to my computer is this from Jim Elliot

    He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

    Love it, relevant to me in my work as well as my own life.

    Debbie
    Portland, OR

  43. 193
    Claire says:

    One of my favorite quotes:

    “At the worst a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived.”
    Rose Macaulay (1924)

  44. 194
    Anonymous says:

    “Life is mostly froth and bubble; two things stand like stone – Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.” I don’t know who said it, but I have always remembered it!

  45. 195
    ~~Sandy says:

    Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?
    Corrie ten Boom

  46. 196
    Worshipping One says:

    “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, the beginning of true faith, is the end of anxiety.” George Muller

  47. 197
    CLAUDIA says:

    Okay I am a little behind her but I just got this and thought it was too funny (well true too)not to pass on… I hope it is not already posted…I havent had time to read all of them.

    Women are like phones:
    They like to be held, talked to, and touched often. But, push the wrong button and you’re disconnected.

  48. 198
    Elizabeth Smillie says:

    “By praying for our husbands and looking to the Lord rather than to our circumstances, we trust Him to carry both our husband and his burden. Then from the overflow of our hearts, we can give back to and encourage our men.”
    –shaunti feldhahn, For Women Only

    I’ve been learning this so much recently. It can be rough to see my husband hurting, but I can’t help him unless I look to the Lord first, trusting Him to care for us both.

  49. 199
    Elizabeth Smillie says:

    Ladies, thanks so much for posting these!
    I’ve been scrolling through the comments just amazed at how awesome some of these are! i’m been asked to do a devotional at a bridal shower this afternoon – a few of these might be just perfect.
    [Lauren (may 25 8:25 pm) THANK you for posting. So good.]

    side note: what would you think of doing a post with a message to brides-to-be?

  50. 200
    Tara G. says:

    I realize I am posting way after the fact- I meant to share this and got busy… I’ve been chewing on this:

    No comeliness in us draws Christ’s attention; it is only His essence that draws Him to us.

    Melana Monroe in Lies Women Believe, p.51, final paragraph.

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