Dallas Willard – Quote of the Week

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“Solitude well practiced will break the power of busyness, haste, isolation, and loneliness. You will see that the world is not on your shoulders after all.Your will find yourself, and God will find you in new ways. Silence also brings Sabbath to you. It completes solitude, for without it you cannot be alone. Far from being a mere absence, silence allows the reality of God to stand in the midst of your life. God does not ordinarily compete for our attention.In silence we come to attend. Lastly, fasting is done that we many consciously experience the direct sustenance of God to our body and our whole person.” ― Dallas Willard, who died this past week, wrote several books including The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship where this quote originates. … [Read more...]

You Are More Beautiful Than You Think – Quote (Video) of the Week

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I watched this video this week and just had to share it.  Amazing how we see ourselves so harshly while others see us in a gentler, brighter light.Please take a few minutes to watch it, listen to their voices, ponder its impact and give yourself permission to feel beautifulI praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works;my soul knows it very well...~ Psalm 139:14 ~ … [Read more...]

Teach Me to Listen Prayer – Quote of the Week

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Teach me to listen, O God,To those nearest me,My family, my friends my co-workers,Help me to be aware that No matter what words I hear,The message is“Accept the person I am. Listen to me.”Teach me to listen, my caring God,To those far from me –The whisper of the hopeless,The plea of the forgotten,The cry of the anguished.Teach me to listen, O God my Mother,To myself.Help me to be less afraidTo trust the voice inside –In the deepest part of meTeach me to listen, Holy Spirit,For your voice-In busyness and in boredom,In certainty and in doubt, In noise and in silence.Teach me, Lord, to listen.  Amen    - adapted from St Ignatius by John Veltri SJ … [Read more...]

Native American Prayer – Quote of the Week

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Earth teach me stillness        as the grasses are stilled with light. Earth teach me suffering        as old stones suffer with memory. Earth teach me humility        as blossoms are humble with beginning. Earth teach me caring        as the mother who secures her young. Earth teach me courage        as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me limitation        as the ant which crawls on the ground. Earth teach me freedom        as the eagle which soars in the sky. Earth teach me resignation        as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me regeneration        as the seed which rises in the spring. Earth teach me to forget myself        as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me to remember kindness        as dry fields weep with rain. — Ute prayer … [Read more...]

Easter Saturday Grace – Quote of the Week – Paul Tillich

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Easter Quote Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness.   It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a   meaningless and empty life.
 It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection does not appear,   when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades,   when despair destroys all joy and courage.
 Sometime at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness,   and it is as though a voice were saying,   "You are accepted. You are accepted,"   accepted by that which is greater than you,   and the name of which you do not know.
 Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later.
 Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much.
 Do not seek for anything,   do not perform anything,   do not intend … [Read more...]

Pay Attention to Your Tears – Quote of the Week

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"You never know what may cause them.  The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you've never seen before.  A pair of somebody's old shoes can do it.  Almost any movie made before the great sadness that came over the world after the Second World War, a horse cantering across a meadow, the high school basketball team running out onto the gym floor at the start of a game.  You can never be sure.  But of this you can be sure.  Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention.They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved,                      you should go next.                                                                                              Frederick Buechner … [Read more...]