Forgiveness...

“Forgiveness, the act of loving my enemy, like forgiveness of self, is not a sudden event, a rapid change of heart. Most of the time it is a long process that begins with the desire to be free, to accept ourselves as we are, and to grow in the love of those who are different and those who have hurt us or appear as rivals. It is the process of getting out of the prison of our likes and dislikes, our hatreds and fears, and walking to freedom and compassion.” ~ Jean Vanier

Solitary Conceit...

“When I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and wouldn’t go to the churches and Gospel Halls; I disliked very much their hymns which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.” ~ C. S. Lewis

A Danger

“Jesus wasn’t just odd. He was literally a danger to the established order. If their goal was to preserve life as they knew it, the Pharisees were right to oppose him at every turn. Jesus was a savior to the lost, not a cheerleader for the found. He came to redeem sinners, not to entertain or soothe the prickly.” ~ Tom Ehrich

Right Relationship

“I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an awesome, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery.” ~ Brennan Manning

More Than Not Dying

"Living is a great deal more than simply not dying. It is carrying out a mission, committing oneself to fashion some meaning that will attain eternity. Time does not create enough space for us to completely realize the meaning of life. Our desires, our hopes, our love, our capacity to communicate, and our powers of understanding surpass and transcend everything that might present itself to us. In wanting the world, human beings seek the Absolute that is God and that surpasses the limits of this world." ~ Leonardo Boff

Prayer...

“Prayer penetrates doors we will never enter. Prayer breaks hearts that have been hardened by the most ruthless pursuit of position. Prayer bridges the gap between the modest den of the meek and the highest places of government, where laws are made and bills are signed and officials wrestle against impossible odds.” ~ Beth Moore

Hollow Us Out

“You hollow us out, God, so that we may carry you, and you endlessly fill us only to be emptied again. Make smooth our inward spaces and sturdy, that we may hold you with less resistance and bear you with deeper grace.” ~ Jan Richardson

Earthly Possessions...

“Be not anxious! Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of all anxiety. If our hearts are set on them, our reward is an anxiety whose burden is intolerable…. When we seek for security in possessions we are trying to drive out care with care, and the net result is the precise opposite of our anticipations. The fetters which bind us to our possessions prove to be cares themselves.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Endless Cycle of Greed

“Avarice concerns our relationship with material goods, and it is unrelenting in our culture…. We are shamelessly exhorted to believe that our spiritual hunger for fulfillment can be satisfied if only we have “the right things”: the name-brand running shoes, the designer scarf, the highest fidelity CD player, the fastest Internet server, the biggest car, the best-programmed microwave, the purest bottled water…. We are stuck in an endless cycle of greed where nothing is ever enough. No other competitor comes close to matching the effectiveness with which greed prevents us from honestly reflecting on our fundamental neediness for God.” ~ Norvene Vest

Empower Your Children

“Empowering is accomplished through training, or the process of disciplining – not through controlling.” ~ Jeff VanVonderen (Families Where Grace Is in Place)

Holiness Is...

“Holiness is nothing more and nothing less than living in the world like Jesus, through the indwelling power of the Spirit of Jesus.” ~ David Busic

Don't Provoke or Exasperate Your Children

“No parent is capable of controlling his/her child’s anger.

But we are capable of controlling whether or not we provoke them.” ~ Jeff VanVonderen (Families Where Grace Is in Place) See Ephesians 6:4

Prayer = Force Against Evil

“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil …” ~ E.M. Bounds

Becoming Human

“We all want to turn away from anything that reveals the failure, pain, sickness and death beneath the brightly painted surface of our ordered lives. Civilization is, at least in part, about pretending that things are better than they are. We all want to be in a happy place, where everyone is nice and good and can fend for themselves. We shun our own weakness and the weakness of others. We refuse to listen to the cry of the needy. How easy it is to fall into the illusion of a beautiful world when we have lost trust in our capacity to make of our broken world a place that can become more beautiful.” ~ Jean Vanier