Little things come daily, hourly, within our reach, and they are not less calculated to set forward our growth in holiness, than are the greater occasions which occur but rarely; — in some ways we may turn them to more profit, inasmuch as they do not war against humility, or tend to feed self-conceit. Moreover, fidelity in trifles, and an earnest seeking to please God in little matters, is a test of real devotion and love… Let your aim be to please our dear Lord perfectly in little things, and to attain a spirit of childlike simplicity and dependence.

Merry Christmas!

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God help us. Has it all truly ever been like it is now, the flimsy veneer of something we like to call “civilization”, over all the brute, savage gestures that underlie it? The veneer of which seems at times altogether desiring to collapse, to fail, and then we know not what to become of everything we ever have come to understand? Is it actually a better world now, as if it were the case it has ever been like it is, that these days things are merely more transparent, and so it seems the worse than when things were only done under cover of darkness and ignorance? For this is an evil world, which is why the Devil could offer it to Christ as that greatest temptation. To hope for better — when was it ever not a fool’s errand? Yet it is only in the darkest darks that some lights can be seen, and we must be such candles, through wind and rain, to preserve these fragile fires as we must. The alternative is no alternative, for what profit a man to exchange his soul for anything? Sometimes so tempting to give in, and be done with it… God help us.

a song that is sweet and sad flavors the air in bitter caramel
and i wonder what it would be like to be back among the living
i follow the faintest scents of prophecy, but if i handle the words
they slip slip slip like so many wisps of weary candle smoke
disappearing to the magic of what the mathematics reveal
the voice of God for to unlock in every molecule of space
there are secrets in the strangeness by which destiny deals
where have i been, that thought and flavor are so familiar?
surely down in the waking world, forgetting all that matters
casually bleeding precious time, waiting only for the last zero

What does it cost you to forgive everyone?

We are all God’s children, or nobody is.
– Jonathan Barnes

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
– Robert Brault

When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.
– Ernest Becker

Love and pity and wish well to every soul in the world; dwell in love, and then you dwell in God.
– William Law

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?
– Stephen Levine

a candle forever lit
a heart that does not die
love from nowhere
because it is everywhere
heaven and earth pass away
but where forever dwells
is home to us all

Somehow, we must remove the notion from us of our own infallibility. It is a hindrance like no other. Somehow we can discern the faults of everyone but our own selves, because we always have a reason why this thing of ours went foul, so that we seem always to be justified. We must constantly strive to see the right in everyone else, and see the wrong in us, because the balance is always stacked the other way. Our selves will always get in the way of any selfless notion — by definitions, this must be the case. There was only ever one of us who did nothing wrong, and I think on the day of judgement, we will be surprised — shocked — by the amount and number of the ills we have rendered, the injustices we have overlooked, and all the while pointing at the mote in our brothers’ eyes, seeking all that we thought was unfair to us to be redressed, and all that which we did of the dishonorable overlooked. I do not think this will be how the Judge will look at things.

Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night

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Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God’s grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire.