Sometimes we exclude things in ourselves in order to be like everybody else around us-our ethnicity, our social … - Joan D. Chittister

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Quote of the day

Nobody is bound by any obligation unless it has first been freely accepted.

Joan D. Chittister

Sometimes we exclude things in ourselves in order to be like everybody else around us-our ethnicity, our social backgrounds, our ideas. What kind of world is it that will not allow me to be myself, and is it really good for me to be there? What part of me will die a slow death if I stay?

Being Yourself, Death, Ethnicity, Order, Social, Stay

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Life always comes out of death. The present rises from the ashes of the past. The future is always possible for those who are willing to re-create it.

Ashes, Future, Past, Rises, Willing

Judaism calls for us to honor the rhythm of human life, the demands of the human community around us, the call of the divine order as the filter and scale for the decisions that drive our own small lives. We do not rule the universe, Judaism reminds us. God does. We are not its standard or its norms. We are only its keepers, its agents, its stewards. To do right by the universe at large is the measure of a happiness framed with the entire cosmos in mind but lived in microcosms across time.

Community, Decision, Divine Order, Keepers, Order, Reminds

Life is a series of lessons, some of them obvious, some of them not. We learn as we go that dreams end, that plans get changed, that promises get broken, that our idols disappoint us.

Changed, Dream, Idols, Life, Series

Mystery is what happens to us when we allow life to evolve rather than having to make it happen all the time. It is the strange knock at the door, the sudden sight of an unceremoniously blooming flower, an afternoon in the yard, a day of riding the midtown bus. Just to see. Just to notice. Just to be there.

Doors, Flower, Happens, Having, Make, Sight

But we are here to depart from this world as finished as we can possibly become.

Aging, Depart, Finished, Possibly, This World, World