Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
Frederick Buechner
Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation
“Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong."
“If that’s a joke, I love it. If not, can’t wait to unpack that with you later.”
“You know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It's a goldfish. Y'know why? It's got a 10-second memory. Be a goldfish."
“What I can tell you is that with the exception of the wit and wisdom of Calvin and Hobbes, not much lasts forever."
“Our goal is to go out like Willie Nelson, on a high."
“Ice cream's the best. It's kinda like seeing Billy Joel live. Never disappoints."
“There's two buttons I never like to hit, alright? And that's 'panic' and 'snooze.'"
“I shouldn't bring an umbrella to a brainstorm."
“Boy, I love meeting people's moms. It's like reading an instruction manual as to why they're nuts."
“Limbo. Great party game, horrible relationship status."
"I believe in Communism. Rom-communism, that is. If Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we."
“That's a real roller coaster there. Glad I was tall enough to join you on that ride.”
I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something.
The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will.
Edward Everett Hale
As a leader you will have two problems:
1. People think you should be solving a different problem.
2. People think you should be solving the problem differently.
I know that some people say the idea of a Law of Nature or decent behavior known to all men is unsound, because different civilisations and different ages have had quite different moralities.
But this is not true. There have been difference between their moralities, but these have never amounted to anything like a total difference. If anyone will take the trouble to compare the moral teaching, of, say, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks, and Romans, what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to our own … for our present purpose, I need only ask the reader to think what a totally different morality would mean. Think of a country where people were admired for running away in battle, or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people who had been kindest to him. You might just as well try to imagine a country where two and two made five. Men have differed as regards what people you ought to be unselfish to – whether it was only your own family, or your fellow countrymen, or every one. But they have always agreed that you ought not to put yourself first. Selfishness has never been admired. Men have differed as to whether you should have one wife or four. But they have always agreed that you must not simply have any woman you liked.
But the most remarkable thing is this. Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him, he will be complaining ‘It’s not fair’ before you can say Jack Robinson. A nation may say treaties don’t matter; but, then, next minute, they spoil their case by saying that the particular treaty they want to break was an unfair one. But if treaties do not matter, and if there is no such thing as Right and Wrong – in other words, if there is no Law of Nature – what is the difference between a fair treaty and an unfair one? Have they not let the cat out of the bag and shown that, whatever they say, they really know the Law of Nature just like anyone else?
C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
What's lost is nothing to what's found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.
Frederick Buechner
Godric
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future that is not our own.
Amen.
This prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw in November 1979 as a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero. The words of the prayer are commonly attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him.
Tell the truth, but tell it slant.
Emily Dickinson
The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.'
One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.
In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity.
John F. Kennedy
The Goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life.
Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit.
All the things in this world are gifts from God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily. We appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us to develop as loving persons. If any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and hinder our growth toward our goal.
In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.
Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life and love in me.
St. Ignatius of Loyola
paraphrased by David L. Fleming, S.J.
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
Simone Weil