I have no reason to complain of any crosses, because they are the bitter fruit of my sin. Nothing shall hurt us but sin; and that shall not hurt us, if we can repent of it. And nothing can do us good but the love and favour of God in Christ; and that we shall have if we seek it in good earnest. Afflictions are God’s potions, which we may sweeten by faith and prayer; but we often make them bitter, by putting into God’s cup the ill ingredients of impatience and unbelief. There is no affliction so small but we shall sink under it, if God uphold us not: and there is no sin so great but we shall commit it, if God restrain us not. A man who hath the spirit of prayer hath more than if he hath all the world. And no man is in a bad condition, but he who hath a hard heart and cannot pray.
25 Jul 2010
The narrow way is to do things that would gain praise, and hate that kind of praise. Even so, to accept that praise, and not get swelled up with pride. It is when you can do anything, to do the right thing. When the Lord is good to us, to understand it is not for something we are responsible for, but His love is that great, so He loves us when we are undeserving. The narrow way is a bridge on a tenuous path, needing constant attention while we walk it, lest we slip into the darkness below. It is to seek the light with all our soul, but not forget everything else. Let us say, if nothing else, it is a very simple thing, really, and therein lies the rub. All that the narrow way is, is love. And such a simple thing tends not to fit very neatly into our complicated situations. For wide is the gate of destruction: it is everything else that true love is not.
22 Jul 2010
If we truly look at things, what is amazing is not what we ourselves do, or can do. That is very little. What is done for us, upon command, that we take for granted makes us think we can do so much. But in actuality, almost all that we have or can do in this life has been given to us, usually at no price whatsoever. Very few people seem to realize this, however, that if we had to purchase emotion, what cost would even the sadness be. We are less than ghosts in the machine. Truly, we are wonderfully and fearfully made, but it only the smallest part of us we are responsible for, so it is critical that we get those parts right: these are the choices that we make. Understand that if we get those wrong, there is nothing else to say what is the “I†in any of us. By these, therefore, are we judged….
19 Jul 2010
after the time comes and goes, i find i will still believe
for the faith is the mere persistence of the spirit within you
and yet i know when it comes to pass, i will scarce believe it
16 Jul 2010
13 Jul 2010
It is a serious thought that the disobedience of the men he had set free from blindness and leprosy should be able to hamper him in his work for his father. But his best friends, his lovers did the same. That he should be crucified was a horror to them; they would have made him a king, and ruined his father’s work. He preferred the cruelty of his enemies to the kindness of his friends. The former with evil intent wrought his father’s will; the latter with good intent would have frustrated it.
In a dream, she says to me, “Have I told you you’re wonderful, today?†But it is just a dream. When I am in my right mind, I am alone, and she is nowhere near. It is of mine, though, to dream that dream; this I have felt in my bones. Somewhere above, there was a command to me: “Try it: believe in something until it comes true.†And it was no easy thing that was laid out before me. At times I felt the doubt slipping in, the despair at the edges of my conscience. Perhaps I buckled at the weight of the uncertainty, once or twice. But I have kept the faith, as best I could, and I believe it still. The dream reminds me just of what I hope for, tells me this is no mere wish fantasy. It has been a long time I have held this, though only in my own eyes; in the eye of destiny, it has only been a blink since this was given to me. So what I must learn from this, may I learn. And keep on.
10 Jul 2010
I believe in prophecy. And I also believe in science. Those who believe the first but not the second, I truly do not know what to say to them: these are those who disbelieve Darwin, and ignore the evidence of true human intelligence. Not to say that human intelligence does not have limits, but there are some things that, despite “just being a theoryâ€, make absolute sense. And then those who believe the second but not the first I can more empathize with, as I once was one of these. A late product of the Enlightenment, when it was high fashion to doubt anything that could not be rationally derived. But as Hamlet said, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophyâ€. Enough has happened to me that for me not to believe in things of the spirit would be irrational. To any who do not believe, all I can think is that they merely have yet to be called. Not me, however. I was called, and I seek to reconcile the science and the sanctity. I don’t believe it to be a hopeless cause. One wonders, though, how to begin…
7 Jul 2010
hope is a blue gem chilled in whispers
faith the golden glow of tomorrow’s dawn
love is the poetry of the eternal void
in the dreaming, time lost its very meaning
in the dreaming, death dies every night
in the dreaming, i held your gaze forever
4 Jul 2010
...the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
– Walt Whitman
To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.
– Allen Ginsberg
By your stumbling, the world is perfected.
– Sri Aurobindo
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.
– Augusten Burroughs
1 Jul 2010
Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what’s going on
Still a little bit of your ghost your witness
Still a little bit of your face I haven’t kissed
You step a little closer each day
Still I can’t say what’s going on
– Damien Rice