Tag Archives: hope
How you are talking
“Be careful how you are talking to yourself, because you are listening.” – Lisa M. Hayes One year ago, I wrote about hearing stupid remarks. Today, I’m writing about saying them myself. I have a double standard when it comes to what I say; I will talk to myself in ways I would never talk …
Know who you are
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” ― Maya Angelou Nobody likes to lose. Loss hurts, sometimes irrevocably. But there are …
The soul is healed
“The soul is healed by being with children.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky “A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.” ― Carl Sandburg What a difference one short year makes in the life of a baby! When I compare the photo above to the one posted one year ago today, which was taken …
To look ahead
“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.”― Graham Greene “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” ― Meister Eckhart Today is my 700th daily post, and that number rather amazes me. Nearly two years ago, …
Participate relentlessly
“You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.” – Elizabeth Gilbert Two years ago today we got the devastatingly bad news nobody ever wants to get, and despite some initial hope that it might not be as fearful as it seemed at first, the prognosis only got worse and worse in …
When we came together
“Remember the hours after September 11th when we came together as one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when our firefighters ran upstairs and risked their lives so that others might live; when rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the Pentagon; when the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed …
Nowhere else to go
“I have been many times driven to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” ― Abraham Lincoln Not quite 152 years ago, the United States endured “the single bloodiest day in American military history” …
To build or to destroy
“Usually when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.” ― Malcolm X “Anger is just anger. It isn’t good. It isn’t bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters. It’s like anything else. You can …
Unfailing love
“The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” — Psalm 33:5 One year ago today, I wrote of my joy in seeing Dr. and Mrs. Rodriguez, and having a new grandson, and all the ways we had been blessed with gifts of comfort and consolation amid all the sorrows. …
As if I was not afraid
“There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first, ranging from grizzly bears to ‘mean’ horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.” — Theodore Roosevelt “Make believe you’re brave And the trick will take you far. You may be as brave …
A giant reset button
“I couldn’t imagine living in a state that didn’t reach the ocean. It was a giant reset button. You could go to the edge of the land and see infinity and feel renewed.”― Avery Sawyer One year ago today I was sitting in a hospital waiting for Grady to be born. He didn’t arrive until …
What is left
“A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.” — Edward de Bono I’ve written very little here about my younger brother Al. I guess there are a lot of reasons why. As he is my only younger sibling, I’ve always felt a stronger need to protect him, however illogical …
What we must give
“Attention is love, what we must give children, mothers, fathers, pets, our friends, the news, the woes of others. What we want to change we curse and then pick up a tool. Bless whatever you can with eyes and hands and tongue. If you can’t bless it, get ready to make it new.” — Marge …
Our conscious choice
“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we shall tend.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach Every day I wake up with a mixture of thoughts, some pleasant and some not. There are always things I look forward to doing that day, and …
The meaning of immortality
“The wise understand the meaning of immortality, and do not seek the never-changing in the transient.” — Upanishads No small part of my sorrow in life comes from my abiding difficulty in accepting that nothing on this earth will last forever. This reluctance to let go encompasses the entire spectrum of my life, from a …
No way to say no
And it’s going to be a day There is really no way to say no to the morning Yes it’s going to be a day There is really nothing left to say But come on morning — Dan Fogelberg This verse is from “To the Morning,” the first Dan Fogelberg song I ever loved, recorded …
An extra
“Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition …
A morning inside you
“There is a morning inside you waiting to burst open into Light.” — Rumi One recent morning, when I was up early, I stepped out onto our deck and was surrounded by the beautiful song of birds and the sound of the nearby creek flowing. Since I had the time, I grabbed my camera to …
Living forward
“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.” — Søren Kierkegaard We’ve talked often here about the importance of surrendering the idea of control, and learning to make the best of whatever comes. Setting a course for the future is wise and even necessary, but any plans we make are based …
Grace will lead
“Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; ‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home.”— John Newton Two weeks ago today, I was able to worship with our church family for the first time in a month. Because Matt still had fluid on his lungs and …
A wonderful position
“I’m in a wonderful position: I’m unknown, I’m underrated, and there’s nowhere to go but up.” ― Pierre S. DuPont IV I loved this quote the moment I saw it, and I thought immediately of how it feels to be a child or a young person. Though few, if any, children will think in precisely …
You do not need to know
“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” ― Thomas Merton When a frightening situation arises, my first impulse is to try …
In the heart
“Truth is not reflected in a mirror, but contained in the heart. It is often obscured by reality.” — Alan A. Malizia One year ago today, my post mentioned Don Quixote, a literary character I’ve been hearing about all of my life. Our father is a fan of Quixote, especially as brought to life in …
The best way
He says the best way out is always through. And I agree to that, or in so far As that I can see no way out but through— Leastways for me… …Bless you, of course, you’re keeping me from work, But the thing of it is, I need to be kept. There’s work enough to …
