“Like many others who turned into writers, I disappeared into books when I was very young, disappeared into them like someone running into the woods. What surprised me and still surprises me is that there was another side to the forest of stories and the solitude, that I came out that other side and met…
Great Quotes
Contemplation and Enlightenment
“Contemplation is a sacred mindfulness of my holy obligation to care for the world I live in. Contemplation is consciousness of the real fullness of life. Contemplatives don’t let one issue in life consume all their nervous energy or their hope. God is bigger than this problem at work or this irritating neighbor at home…
Sticks and Stones
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, my mother liked to recite, though words hurt her all the time, and behind the words the stories about how things should be and where she fell short, as told by my father, by society, by the church, by the happy flawless…
Entering into the Conversation
“We are well warned: it is not enough to understand the Bible, or admire it. God has spoken; now it’s our move. We pray what we read, working our lives into active participation in what God reveals in the word. God does not expect us to take this new reality lying down. We’d better not…
A Field Guide to Getting Lost
“Three years ago I was giving a workshop in the Rockies. A student came in bearing a quote from what she said was the pre-Socratic philosopher Meno. It read, “‘How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?’” I copied it down, and it has stayed with…
What We Need
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities, and the challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.” Thomas Merton
The Journey, by Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice– though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do,…
On Gratitude, Anne Lamott
“A lot of us religious types go around saying thank you to God when we find a good parking space, or locate the house keys or the wandering phone, or finally get a good night’s sleep. And while that might be annoying to the people around us , it’s important because if we’re lucky, gratitude…
What Do You Hope For?
“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” (Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams)
Don’t Worry
Things take the time they take. Don’t worry. How many roads did St. Augustine follow before he became St. Augustine? — Mary Oliver, Felicity
