(If I’d known that, it might have tipped the scales the other way!)ĭum Spiro Spero. Andrews, Scotland, my home away from home. “While I breathe, I hope.” Ironically, we later discovered that this was the motto of St. We landed on Esse Quam Videri, which means, “ To be rather than to appear.” We liked this idea of authenticity and integrity.Įsse Quam Videri was the winner, but here’s the runner-up: Dum Spiro Spero. After visiting several castles and noticing the family crests and mottoes in each place, we decided to create the Toone family crest with our own Latin motto. In 2007 our family was on sabbatical in Scotland. And finally, character produces HOPE! And who couldn’t use a little more hope right now? I’ve been writing about how our “alchemist” God can take our sufferings and transform them, step by step, into pure gold: HOPE! There is a recipe. If you didn’t read my last few posts, I’d urge you to do so here, here, and here. … we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope , and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. And for this moment in our life together, it deserves to be revisited again and again: We’ve been “loitering” in Romans 5:3-5 for several evenings, a favorite passage of mine. Not the same as sitting next to each other in church, of course, but still a sweet point of connection. How is your soul this night? I trust it’s well in part because we worshipped together yesterday! It blesses me to see your names and greetings popping up in the comment section of our YouTube Channel. Sleep on This: Dum Spiro Spero (April 20)