Quotes for June 2006

Consume what they are selling…

· 30 June 2006

We often wonder if the celebrities who advertise foods and beverages actually consume what they are selling. …This is the very question most pressing for those of us who speak for Christ.

— Dallas Willard [via]

« πλ | Christ »

Truth in its simplest form…

· 29 June 2006

If I can capture truth in its simplest form, beauty will follow like a sledgehammer.

— Mark Twain [via]

« πλ | Truth »

To fall into the impiety of…

· 28 June 2006

For a Christian to say, “I will not have anything to do with the great and worthy works of artists whose lives were not good” is to fall into the impiety of questioning the wisdom of God in bestowing gifts of grace where He wills.

— Frank Gaebelein [via]

« πλ | Attitude, Grace »

What you do speaks so loudly…

· 27 June 2006

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson [via]

« πλ | Character »

The discovery of ourselves in others…

· 26 June 2006

Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.

— Alexander Smith

And that Love is God…

« πλ | Love »

Love is a word…

· 25 June 2006

Love is a word; what matters is the connection that word implies.

— Rama-Kandra in The Matrix Revolutions

« πλ | Love, Movie »

All these worries…

· 24 June 2006

When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.

— Winston Churchill [via]

« πλ | Observation, Suffering »

Triple truth…

· 23 June 2006

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

— Buddha [via]

« πλ | Attitude, Character »

Great fire in our soul…

· 22 June 2006

There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.

— Vincent Van Gogh [via]

« πλ | Identity »

The world is absolutely transparent…

· 21 June 2006

Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the Divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or fable. It is true.

— Thomas Merton [via]

« πλ | Life »

Jesus did not come to…

· 20 June 2006

Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or to remove it. He came to fill it with his presence.

— Paul Claudel

« πλ | Christ, Suffering »

When you are sorrowful…

· 19 June 2006

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

— Kahlil Gibran [via]

« πλ | Suffering »

Not being weak…

· 18 June 2006

Surrender, is not being weak and giving up..it’s simply coming over to the winning side; using a power greater than yourself to continue the journey.

— Unknown author [via]

« πλ | Humility »

Litmus test of love…

· 17 June 2006

This is perhaps the greatest moral challenge Jesus left us: We all do pretty well in love when the persons we are loving are warm and gracious, but can we be gracious and mellow in the face of bitterness, jealousy, hatred, withdrawal? That’s the litmus test of love.

— Ronald Rolheiser

« πλ | Love, Love »

We were made to…

· 16 June 2006

We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful…and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.

— Desmond Tutu [via]

« πλ | Existence, Hospitality »

Too lonely to know…

· 15 June 2006

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

— Kahlil Gibran

« πλ | Doubt, Faith »

Why must the pessimist always…

· 14 June 2006

An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?

— Rene Descartes

« πλ | Attitude, Observation »

If, Then…

· 13 June 2006

If He is not risen, then our faith is in vain. If our faith is in vain, then our Homesickness is only monologue. If our Homesickness is only monologue, then my headphones have lied. Then all those evening walks downtown have been mere cardiovascular exercise. Then the late October air is not invigorating but cold. Then Autumn isn’t what I thought. Then life is meaningless.

— Jeremy Huggins [via]

« πλ | Christ, Life »

Beyond being able to…

· 12 June 2006

Now—here is my secret: I tell it to you with the openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God—that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.

— Douglas Coupland, Life After God [via]

« πλ | Being »

Some want to live…

· 11 June 2006

Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.

— C.T. Studd [via]

« πλ | Community »

Beginner’s mind…

· 10 June 2006

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s there are few.

— Shunryo Suzuki-Roshi

« πλ | Attitude, Awareness, Detachment »

All things are…

· 9 June 2006

To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson [via]

« πλ | Attitude, Compassion »

Grace they say is…

· 8 June 2006

Grace they say is the meeting of two desires, God’s desire and your desire…it happens when one is open to the prompting of the Spirit. Passivity under the action of divine grace creates a spiritual being able to serve in truth and for God.

Jeff Pioquinto

« πλ | Grace, Grace »

Do not wish to be…

· 7 June 2006

Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.

— St. Francis de Sales [via]

« πλ | Identity »

Define enlightenment…

· 6 June 2006

If I could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is the quiet acceptance of what is.

— Wayne Dyer [via]

« πλ | Attitude, Wisdom »

Must let go of…

· 5 June 2006

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.

— Joseph Campbell [via]

« πλ | Life »

Growth begins when…

· 4 June 2006

Growth begins when we begin to accept our own weakness.

— Jean Vanier [via]

« πλ | Life »

Will surrender to the spirit of the age…

· 3 June 2006

Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day’s problems.

— St. Anthony [via]

« πλ | Religion »

I would sooner have you…

· 2 June 2006

I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.

— Pietro Aretino [via]

« πλ | Love »

Who governs his passions is…

· 1 June 2006

A man who governs his passions is master of the world. We must either command them, or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.

— St. Dominic [via]

« πλ | Character, Virtue »