Often I read Brigham's blog and find motivation to listen to a song, watch a video or movie and often read a book. This morning I dropped by the library and picked up three short stories by Tolstoy: Where Love is, There God is Also, The Three Hermits, and What Men Live By.

Tolstoy is a rich and rewarding read whether it is his novels, or his short stories that illuminate a christian weakness that many a christian do not practice what they preach. These three stories stir the soul and prick the conscience and cause one to reflect and ask do I truly love my neighbor ( in the broad biblical sense of neighbor) and do I truly commune with God.

The first story is the most retold and familiar, though Tolstoy is not always attributed as the author, the third Brigham reviewed, so a few thoughts on the middle of the three - the hermits. Two thoughts actually. First that it is true that God honors the heart yielded to Him , not mere ritual and thus sanctifies the yielded heart regardless of circumstances or outward appearances. And secondly, it is far too easy, and might I say frequent, to judge another's religious habits from the outside and prescribe from that outsider's point of view, a solution even though it is not our stewardship to intercede or preach or correct; and oft times is misguided.

Recommended reading for a quick lift.