trust

Put not your trust  in things of earth that are here today and gone tomorrow. Put your trust in spiritual things that will last forever. - Life is full when we learn how to appreciate life in all of its messiness. - When I am certain of who I am, I don't have to argue with anyone.

"I will make an apology for any mistake that I make but I will never apologize for who I am."

            -Reverend Nadia Bolz-Weber

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Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly. Francis Bacon

Wisdom from the Desert

We often believe that if we can just change where we are our lives will be better. Amma Matrona, one of the desert mothers, reminds us why this will not work. "We carry ourselves wherever we go so we can not escape temptation by mere flight"

from Paul Tillich

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometime at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, "You are accepted. You are accepted," accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know.

Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything, do not perform anything, 

do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted. If that happens to us, we experience grace.

            -Paul Tillich

MISTAKE

Sometimes things are not as they seem to be. Often we see life as much worse than it actually is. We fail to see how something so terrible can result in anything of value. - T. J. Grey

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Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that shall pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundations on humility.
            -St. Augustine

Education =

Learning something that you might wish that you never knew.

--

Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness.

-Cullen Hightower 

Giving Up Giving Up

I am wondering if I can get away with giving up "giving up" for Lent again this year. I found that to be a very beneficial sacrifice last year. It was a response to all of those who seemed to be taking their lives much too seriously. I have spent so many years frustrated over my inability to sustain any kind of  Lenten practice for fifty days. I am going to try again this year but I am not going to try too seriously.

Another

This is the joy of life

Being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one

Being a force of nature
Instead of a feverish, selfish, little clod of ailments and grievances
Complaining that the world will not devote itself
To making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community
And as long as I live, it is my privilege
To do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die
For the harder I work, the more I live.
I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no brief candle to me,
It is a sort of splendid torch
Which I've got a hold of for a moment.
And I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on
To future generations.

            -George Bernard Shaw   

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Attitude of Gratitude

To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action.  Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course.  Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you.  Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.

              -Albert Schweitzer   

mind flow

I am sending this post to my blog because  I have neglected it for so long and I need to get back with it because it is important to me even if not to anyone else. It gives me a chance to collect things without cluttering up my hard drive or my memory card.

--

Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness.

-Cullen Hightower 

What's With My Blogging?

I need not worry about losing readers because I have never had any readers of my blog so now I am just blogging for myself.I will probably just do stuff in my journal.