God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. CS Lewis This quote lingered with me today. Sometimes in the good times, I hear God quite plainly and at a great volume level. I also believe I miss his many whispers too when the noise of the world and my inner chatter is set on loud. I am learning in the second half of life to make friends with my hindrances and allow my discomforts and even pains and hurts emerge as lessons. I used to squelch them, bury them in ego protecting layers or ignore them, choosing instead to spend time with ice cream and fattening comfort foods. I am more patient with difficulties now – or at least attempt to be – allowing time to heal and discover their message. God is in all my experiences – the pleasures, the worries and even the excruciating sobs of life. He doesn’t cause them but he will make things new again if I walk along side with him, listening, … [Read more...]
A Collection of Prayers and Quotes about Prayer
I leave for a seven day retreat on Sunday and have been prayerfully pondering my “intention” - my deepest desire for this time with God. Christian Valters Painters in her new and wonderful book, The Soul of a Pilgrim, recommends: “As a way of naming the grace you seek for this time, I intite you to open yourself to receive a seven word prayer to carry with you... Let this evolve over several days, sitting with whether the words that have emerged feel right for you.” Here is my seven word prayer that have formed within me for this retreat: “Deepen within me Your life and way.” Pondering prayer and allowing its words to seep within the crevices of my soul reminded me of several of my favorite quotes about prayer and favorite prayers. I copied the following down in my journal to nourish me next week on my path into the heart of God. God understands our prayers even when we can't find the words to say them. Unknown The value of persistent prayer is not that he will hear us . . . … [Read more...]
Serving A Life Sentence Or Choosing Words to Live By
Do you have a life verse? A Bible verse or quote that resonates in your heart? Words that hold special meaning for you and perhaps guide you in times of decision and difficulty? I have found discovering special key words ground me and offer me light on my path. If I am not quite sure what to do, I reread certain phrases. I would hope once I am gone somehow people who knew me and loved me, would remember me in these ways. Here are words that impact my life: We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete Hebrews 12: 2 My favorite Bible verse. I find that when I focus on God, things become clearer. When I allow my eyes to be distracted by sin, the world and my ego, I become lost. I need to remind myself of these life-giving words daily. For 2015, this verse is strong in my daily prayers: One thing I ask from the Lord, This only do I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life. To gaze on the beauty of the Lord And … [Read more...]
14 Heart Quotes – To Honor Valentine’s Day
Just some words of wisdom to ponder today: Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart ... Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. Carl Jung Your feet will take you where your heart is. Irish Proverb The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe. One moment they make us despair of our kind, and the next we see in them the reflection of the divine image. Charles W. Chestnut The thousand mysteries around us would not trouble but interest us, if only we had cheerful, healthy hearts. Nietzche Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. Martin Luther King, Jr. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Mother Teresa Advice from a veteran trapeze performer: Throw your heart over the bars and your body will … [Read more...]
Giving Thanks – Quote of the Week
“Giving thanks awakens me to a God giving Himself, the naked, unashamed passion, God giving Himself to me – for me – a surrender of love. ‘Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are a divine choice,’ wrote Henri Nouwen. A divine choice! He chooses His children to fully live! Fully live the fullest life: the astonished gratitude, the awed joy, the flying and the free. The discipline of giving thanks, of unwrapping one thousand gifts, unwarps God’s heart bare: I choose you, Live!” One Thousand Gifts – Ann Voskamp … [Read more...]
Prayer – Quote of the Week – John Baillie
Teach me O God so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin. Let me use disappointment as material for patience; Let me use success as material for thankfulness; Let me us suspense as material for perseverance; Let me use danger as material for courage; Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering: Let me use praise as material for humility: Let me use pleasures as material for temperance; Let me use pains as material for endurance. John Baillie … [Read more...]
Advent Approaches – Quote of the Week
“The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of it somewhere a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You walk up the steps to the front door. The empty windows at either side of it tell you nothing, or almost nothing. For a second you catch a whiff of some fragrance that reminds you of a place you’ve never been and a time you have no words for. You are aware of the beating of your heart…The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.” — Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark … [Read more...]
God in Everything – Quote of the Week – Thomas Merton
To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything God has given us and God has given us everything. Thomas Merton … [Read more...]