Love, even that love which is imagined, is sometimes all we have to get us through.
Instead of viewing God as one who helps me accomplish my purposes, it is now my joy to help God accomplish the divine purpose - seeking the best for others and seeking the growth of the beloved, which is to say everyone.
There are things we see with our eyes, sitting high and looking out. And there are things we see with our hearts, sitting still and looking in.
I wonder if gratefulness is the bridge from sorrow to joy, spanning the chasm of our anxious striving. Freed from the burden of unbridled desires, we can enjoy what we have, celebrate what we've attained, and appreciate the familiar. For if we can't be happy now, we'll likely not be happy when.
Write letters to your grandmother. She will love it. And leave you money in her will.
When love takes you by the hand and leaves you better, that is home. That's the place to stake your claim and build your life.
Too many times we pray for ease, but that's a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the Eternal, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be swept asunder.
When we are honest, we admit how agreeable it can feel to be singled out for favored treatment. The biggest barrier to equality for all is that inequality for some feels good.
Raw pain alarms. us. It reminds us that life isn't as orderly as we'd hoped. We demand that pain settle down before we shuffle it off to the quiet table. We want pain to stay in its own little section, want to keep it from spilling over into the other parts of life. Just like. lunch trays. Keep pain in its own little compartment.
But spirituality, it seems to me, when answering the question, "Why should I be good? Why should I care for others?" says, "Because that is the best, most fulfilling way to live" Whether or not you receive an award or a payment is incidental. You are good and kind and loving because it is right, even though it is difficult sometimes. It fulfills the highest law, to treat others as we wish to be treated.
We cannot be wise while in the grip of a deep fear. . . . This is why demagogues, when seeking our support, will first cause us to fear and hate, knowing when we are in the grip of a great fear, we will abandon common sense and wisdom, we will forsake the hard-won lessons of time and experience.
Reality has a long history of not altering itself to make us happy or comfortable.
People feel guilty enough at funerals without having more guilt heaped on. I would prefer a bighearted preacher giving my eulogy, someone inclined to widen heaven's doors. I don't want to leave folks wondering whether I made it.
We just never know. We think we do. We think we have life figured out, and in our arrogance we become hard. But life has a way of humbling us, of softening us.
There’s danger in thinking joy is a matter of location. If we can’t find joy where we are, we probably won’t find it anywhere.
In the end. . . . . . . Stand where we feel led. Stand straight, stand tall, and try to remember that other folks might be led to stand elsewhere.