Love

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

—Jesus (John 13:34,35)

Live Thoughtfully

What we weave in time we wear in eternity.

—J.C. Ryle

Don't be misled–you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.

—Galatians 6:7

Live intentionally and carefully. You can’t go wrong following Jesus. Even death ends in resurrection.

Childlike Faith

How kind the Lord is! How good he is!

So merciful, this God of ours!

The Lord protects those of childlike faith;

I was facing death, and he saved me.

Let my soul be at rest again,

for the Lord has been good to me.

He has saved me from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling.

And so I walk in the Lord’s presence

as I live here on earth!

—Psalm 116

Rest Awaits

You don’t have to live with anxiety. There is a path of peace and security no matter what happens.

“You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.”

—Augustine in Confessions

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” 

—Jesus in Matthew 11:28

Words

Words of truth:

There is perhaps nothing that so marks us as human as the gift of speech. Who knows to what degree and in what ways animals have the power to communicate with each other, but to all appearances it is only a shadow of ours. By speaking, we can reveal the hiddenness of thought, we can express the subtlest as well as the most devastating of emotions, we can heal, we can make poems, we can pray.

All of which is to say we can speak truth- the truth of what it is to be ourselves, to be with each other, to be in the work!- and such speaking as that is close to what being human is all about. What makes lying an evil is not only that the world is deceived by it, but that we are dehumanized by it.

—Fred Buechner in Wishful Thinking 

Transformation

Transformation, metamorphosis, comes as we view and embrace the work of God through Jesus. It sets off a victorious cycle of change.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

—Romans 12:1,2

God Said NO

I asked God to take away my pride. And God said “No.”
He said it was not for Him to take away, but for me to give up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole. And God said “No.”
He said her spirit was whole, her body was only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience. And God said “No.”
He said patience is a by-product of tribulations. It isn’t granted, it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness. And God said “No.”
He said He gives me blessings, happiness is up to me.

I asked God to spare me pain. And God said “No.”
He said suffering draws me apart from worldly cares and brings me closer to Him.

I asked God to make my spirit grow. And God said “No.”
He said I must grow on my own. But He will prune me to make me fruitful.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. And God said “No.”
He said He will give me life, that I may enjoy all things.

I ask God to help me love others, as much as he loves me.
And God said “Ah, finally you have the idea!”

— Claudia Minden Weisz