Two monologues do not make a dialogue.
~ Jeff Daly ~
We feel troubled not only when bad things happen, but when unexpected good things happen as well. In other words, we feel troubled when something ---- good or bad ---- upsets our set ways of living and leaves us confused. Many of the intellectual difficulties we have with Faith come from the fact that we bring the wrong kind of mind to it. The modern world has largely lost the power of symbolic thinking and replaced it with analysis. Analysis in itself is a powerful mode of thought, but it is not the whole of thought. Even people whose conscious minds are fixed in an analytical mode are still moved unconsciously by symbolism. Our world is filled with symbols of contentment, pleasure, fulfillment, happiness ---- and these work on us all, no matter how analytical we may be. We are all manipulated by symbolism when we do not recognize its reality. Our Faith can withstand analysis, but you cannot live on analysis. "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." ♥
They have come up with a perfect understanding. He won't try to run her life, and he won't try to run his, either. And beautifully their love wakes with the morning, unafraid to meet the little worries of the day and thus sleeps when evening comes delighted to see the darkness of the night.♥
A quitter never wins, a winner never quits. Winners never quit but when they do, they do it for the right reason. Right? Right! Okay let's hear something from, C. S. Lewis : *Do not dare not to dare.* ---- Right!♥
FALLING STARS : Do you remember still the falling stars
that like swift horses through the heavens raced
and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
of our wishes ---- do you recall? And we
did make so many! For there were countless numbers
of stars : each time we looked above we were
astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,
while in our hearts we felt safe and secure
watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,
knowing somehow we had survived their fall.
A billion stars go spinning through the night,
glittering above your head,
But in you is the presence that will be
when all the stars are dead.♥
~ Rephrase, Rainer Maria Rilke ~
For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
"I am the bread of life." I am what satisfies the deepest and most elemental needs of humanity. I am the most intimate reality in your life : As intimate to you, as sustaining as the food in your mouth. I am the one who keeps your awareness bright like a lamp, your heart warm, your will healthy, strong and gentle. I am the one who enables you to raise your eyes, to see beauty and glory in the world, and to open the eye of your spirit till you see God.♥
1 Pt 5:5-14 / 1 Cor 1:23, 24 / Mk 16:15-20
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease ---- where there are tongues, they will be stilled ---- where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror ---- then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part ; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain : faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.♥
~ 1 Corinthians 13 ~
Lord, Thank You.
If you never felt pain, then how would you know that He is a healer?
If you never had to pray, how would you know that He is a deliverer?
If you never had a trial, how could He help you overcome it?
If you never felt sadness, how would you know that He is a comforter?
If you never made a mistake, how would you know that He is a forgiver?
If you knew all, how would you know that He will answer all your questions?
If you never were in trouble, how would you know that He will come to your rescue?
If you never were broken, then how would you know that He can make you whole?
If you never had a problem, how would you know that He can solve them?
If you never had any suffering, then how would you know what He went through?
If you never went through the fire, then how would you become pure?
If He gave you all things, how would you appreciate them?
If He never corrected you, how would you know that He loves you?
If you had all power, then how would you learn to depend on Him?
If your life was perfect, then how would you need Jesus for?♥
~ Author Unknown To Me ~
