Profound Thinking

One of our problems is that very few of us have developed any distinctive personal life. Everything about us seems secondhand, even our emotions. In many cases we have to rely on secondhand information in order to function. I accept the word of a physician, a scientist, a farmer, on trust. I do not like to do this. I have to because they possess vital knowledge of living of which I am ignorant. Secondhand information concerning the state of my kidneys, concerning the effects of cholesterol, I can live with. But when it comes to questions of meaning, purpose, and death, secondhand information will not do. I cannot survive on a secondhand faith in a secondhand God. There has to be a personal word, a unique confrontation, if I come to alive!

The Joy of Too much Tenderness

I thank God for all my struggles and pain. It brought me closer to Him and made me realize there's more to life than what I have and what I see.

As I look back, pain is always a purification for me. It made me aware of my own weaknesses, my own faults, my own incomptence, my own lack of knowledge, my being nothing. It made me appreciate the fact that I can do nothing. I must own it and value it as much as I can. Yes, it is not forever. No matter what suffering I may have- it will all pass, as everything passes.

I understand how God want His children to be pliant to Him. Only He knows the degree of glory He desires for us and what graces are needed. Suffering in itself does not make us holy. It is only when we own it, be united with it, out of love, to the suffering of Christ that it has meaning.

How do you define Mystery?

We don't want to step out in faith and say, "God, the only hand I have is yours, even though I don't know where You're going". I think that's the most thrilling experience: not to know what God is doing- but going out and doing it anyway.

It's very difficult for a real Christian to mess this up. If you try to something and you fail, you've been humbled. You're a little smarter the next time; you learn to depend upon God and not yourself. You can learn much in failure. If you succeed: you are aware of God's spirit, aware of His using you in extraordinary ways. So from spiritual perspective, you can't fail no matter what happens.

Love in its Truest Sense...

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

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Life is Short

No matter how successful one is, or how famous, there comes a time when he passes on. He's like a ship going through the ocean.

Isn't that life is all about, each passing through? Why lament over the things you wanted and never got? Why lament over what could have been when it is all passing? Right now, you are not the person you were a half hour ago. We are one half hour closer to the journey's end. For some this is a distressing thought. Why is it that we find death so depressing? We can imagine everyone dying except ourselves. Have we lost sight of this world being a pilgrimage? It's a journey. You're not home yet. A Christian must never lose sight of this passing reality of life; and it should be faced with peace, not a constant surprise.

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