Tuesday, January 09, 2007
sometimes you read things that really hit home. it relates directly to how you're feeling or what you're going through at that particular time. this has happened so often lately that God is trying to tell me something. and while it might not resonate the same way with you, i thought i'd pass it along anyway...enjoy.
"My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there's something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves."
- I John 3:18-20 (The Message)
"I don't think much surprises Him: this is how we make important changes - barely, poorly, slowly. And still, He raises his fist in triumph."
- Anne Lamott
"One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. Another secret is that laughter is carbonated holiness."
- Anne Lamott
"Your sick worried mind can't heal your sick worried mind. Well, maybe your mind is lovely and pastoral and you do not suffer from paranoia, hypochondria, a bad attitude, and delusions of victimized grandeur. That is very nice, but we don't want you in our cave after the bombs fall, becauseyou are going to annoy us to death."
- (you guessed it...) Anne Lamott
"God doesn't want or expect you to get it together before you come along, because you can't get it together until you come along. You can spend half of your time alone, but you have to be in service, in community, or you'll get a little funny."
- Anne Lamott (can you tell i'm reading her book?)
"Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess about everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all or to pay attention, stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a big bag of Hershey's Kisses in bed?"
- Anne Lamott (can you tell i like it?)
"...then I prayed that I could just keep the faith. I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered...that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. Faith also means reaching deeply within, for the sense one was born with, the sense, for example, to go for a walk."
- Anne Lamott (last one...promise)
"My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there's something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves."
- I John 3:18-20 (The Message)
"I don't think much surprises Him: this is how we make important changes - barely, poorly, slowly. And still, He raises his fist in triumph."
- Anne Lamott
"One secret of life is that the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. Another secret is that laughter is carbonated holiness."
- Anne Lamott
"Your sick worried mind can't heal your sick worried mind. Well, maybe your mind is lovely and pastoral and you do not suffer from paranoia, hypochondria, a bad attitude, and delusions of victimized grandeur. That is very nice, but we don't want you in our cave after the bombs fall, becauseyou are going to annoy us to death."
- (you guessed it...) Anne Lamott
"God doesn't want or expect you to get it together before you come along, because you can't get it together until you come along. You can spend half of your time alone, but you have to be in service, in community, or you'll get a little funny."
- Anne Lamott (can you tell i'm reading her book?)
"Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess about everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all or to pay attention, stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a big bag of Hershey's Kisses in bed?"
- Anne Lamott (can you tell i like it?)
"...then I prayed that I could just keep the faith. I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered...that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. Faith also means reaching deeply within, for the sense one was born with, the sense, for example, to go for a walk."
- Anne Lamott (last one...promise)
// posted by ruth @ 10:23 PM 
