Favorite Quotes of 2013

Each day, before I begin the "daily grind" and after I center myself with my daily prayers, I read through a series of quotes from authors/theologians/spiritualists that I respect. I have affixed these quotes on my laptop.  Each year I change the quotes....but this past year the quotes have been so meaningful to me that I thought I would share them with you.  
I know this is not like my normal blog posts, but I am sure that you will be blessed by some of these and I pray the Holy Spirit will speak to you as you read through them:

"Security is not the avoidance of bad circumstances, but the presence of God in the midst of everything." Christina Gibson

"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." Frederick Buechner

“One life on this earth is all that we get, whether it is enough or not enough, and the obvious conclusion would seem to be that at the very least we are fools if we do not live it as fully and bravely and beautifully as we can.” Frederick Buechner

“Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin.  It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” Frederick Buechner

"If things start happening, don't worry, don't stew, just go right along and you'll start happening too." Dr. Seuss

"Our life is full of brokenness - broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God's faithful presence in our lives." Henri Nouwen

"Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come Lord Jesus." Frederick Buechner

"Go where your best prayers take you." Frederick Buechner

"The real joy of life is in its play. Play is anything we do for the joy and love of doing it. It is the real living of life." Walter Rauschenbusch

"Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes...." Frederick Buechner

"When we learn to be inclusive, we can be a world of shalem, or wholeness, and create a world of shalom, which is peace." Rabbi Ted Riter

"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." Frederick Buechner

"To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love him."

"What we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else. It is important to tell at least from time to time the secret of who we truly and fully are . . . because otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are and little by little come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing. It is important to tell our secrets too because it makes it easier . . . for other people to tell us a secret or two of their own . . . " Frederick Buechner

"Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you." Frederick Buechner

"The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild." G.K. Chesterton

"You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted! If that happens to us, we experience grace." - Paul Tillich

  

"The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you." Frederick Buechner

"Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly."  Gk Chesterson

“Sometimes we are too busy living a life to have a life worth living.” 

Julia Cameron

"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning." TS Elliot

"I have come to see the fundamental faith commitment of Christianity as something like: The most meaningful life is the life lived in sacrificial love.  I'll unpack this more in another essay, but for now let it suffice to say that Jesus' life and Jesus' teaching can be summed up in that simple statement.  We Christians, then, commit to a life of sacrificial love because we have faith that this truly is the best way to live.  Sacrificial love is God's way of relating to creation, and so we trust that it should be our way of relating to it as well.  When I claim to be a Christian, I'm claiming that sacrificial love will be the measure of my life." Wes Eades

"The essential presupposition of peacemaking as an activity among Christians is our common belief that we have been made part of a community in which people no longer regard their lives as their own. We are not permitted to harbor our grievances as “ours.” When we think our brother or sister has sinned against us, such an affront is not just against us but against the whole community. A community established as peaceful cannot afford to let us relish our sense of being wronged without exposing that wrong in the hopes of reconciliation. We must learn to see wrongs as “personal” because we are part of a community where the “personal” is crucial to the common good.
It is an unpleasant fact, however, that most of our lives are governed more by our hates and dislikes than by our loves. I seldom know what I really want, but I know what or whom I deeply dislike and even hate. It may be painful to be wronged, but at least such wrongs give me a history of resentments that, in fact, constitute who I am. How would I know who I am if I did not have my enemies?" – Haurawas

"The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love."  – Coffin

 

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."  – Anne Lamont

 

"It is not enough to limit your love to your own nation, to your own race, to your own group. You must respond with love even to those outside of it, respond with love to those who hate you. This concept enables people to live together not as nations, but as the human race." Clarence Jordan

 

"Do not be too moral.  You may cheat yourself out of too much life.  Aim above morality.  Be not simply good; be good for something."  Henry David Thoreau

 

"God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by subtracting."  Meister Eckhart

 

"From the cowardice that dare not face new truth,

From the laziness that is contented with half truth,

From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,

Good Lord, deliver us SO THAT WE MIGHT WALK IN THE GOODNESS OF YOUR LOVE FOREVER AMEN."

 

 

 

 

Boston, West, and the Primrose Flower

A Preface: It is unbelievably hard for me to write about suffering and tragedy. I wanted so badly to blog about the awful Newton events, but I was too caught up in my own tears and emotion to post something remotely readable. I am no less emotional about the tragedy in Boston and West, Texas that occurred earlier in the week, but I feel a deep need to "write out" my thoughts before I lose them in the emotional black hole of heartfelt sadness. So, here is what my heart is telling me:

There are so many things to be said regarding the awful tragedy in Boston (and countless other terrible events that have afflicted the innocent in recent years..namely, the West, Texas explosion), and I am sure that theologians and others more educated than I will parse the deeper meaning in the days and months to come much better than this writer. But, even though I live and speak theology, I cannot seem to (or don't want to) apply theology to this tragedy...it is too real...too heart-wrenching. Instead, two thoughts have been whirling around in my heart: a quote from Frederick Buechner and a certain flower that I noticed a few weeks ago.

First, the flower:


A few weeks ago we were at Mary's ranch (it has become our Sabbath place -- we love escaping to its endless creek trails and quiet night breezes whenever we can). The weather was perfect, 68 degrees and sunny and the family had been playing outside all day long. Mary and I were exhausted from a full day of creek stomping and exploring. Around five thirty in the evening we settled into our chairs on the deck to watch the kids play on the swing set. I happened to glance towards the other side of the yard and to my surprise I saw an entire patch of beautiful yellow flowers blooming in the setting sun. Just ten minutes earlier, nothing was there except the grass...but in those few moments the lawn was transformed with Yellow Primrose flowers blooming for the night.

Even though I know about this wonderful flower that comes into its prime during the evening hours, every spring I am amazed all over again at the curious natural phenomenon. Mary and I were so taken by the flower patch that we took a few pictures:

A picture of the backyard at the ranch around 5:30 PM

A Picture of the same lawn minutes later.

Aren't they beautiful? The curious thing to me is that, unlike any other flower, these flowers bloom during the evening hours and last all night. They are at their strongest and most beautiful during the darkest part of the night. For some reason the darkness causes them to stand up straight and expose their true, beautiful, divine identity.


This past Monday in Boston, although it was middday, the scene could not have been any more dark with evil. Yet, in the midst of the darkness, light shone. The media has done a wonderful job of showing us how so many people held their divine light up against the seemingly overpowering darkness by rushing into the muck and mire (blooming, as it were) in an attempt to help, save, comfort, and assist the wounded.

We have been privileged to hear stories of such light...like the now famous "man in the cowboy hat" who we now know is Carlos Arredondo. Carlos was at the finish line handing out flags to the runners as they completed the race. He was there in honor of his son who had lost his life in the service of our country and his other son who committed suicide because he was unable to deal with his brother's death. Carlos was in deep depression for years over the loss of his sons, but like the primrose flower, the darkness called out the need for the light to arise in him, so he pulled himself together and was at the Boston Marathon handing out flags.

When the bombs went off, Carlos rushed into the crowd and quickly found a injured man whose legs had been ripped off by the bomb. He put him in a wheelchair, tied a tourniquet around his legs and sped him to safety.

We also heard of the many marathon runners who kept on running over two miles past the finish line to Mass General Hospital so they could give blood to those who were injured from the blast....and the countless volunteers, police officers, EMT's and firefighters who rushed to the scene while most were running away as fast as they could.

Stories are flooding in about people who shone bright against the dark smoke at the fertilizer plant explosion a short drive from Waco in West, Texas.

When I read these accounts I could not stop thinking about the primrose flower....and about scripture. "Light has shown in the darkness and the darkness shall not overcome it." I don't know why I am surprised whenever scripture proves itself true...but it did on Monday and Wednesday.

Just like on Good Friday...the darkness tried to overcome the Light of the world...but the light was too strong. So to, in a different but all together similar way, the darkness tried to overcome the streets of Boston (and, in doing so the heart of the world) but the light was just too strong.


Now, the quote:

On my computer I have a list of quotes from people I admire that I try to read daily...the quotes serve as a way to center my heart and spirit in preparation for the busy day that is always ahead. The very first quote in the document is from Frederich Buechner...I dedicated this short quote to memory long ago...mainly because it speaks to me in a deep and profound way...so much so that I used it in a speech I gave at my brother's wedding; "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid."

I don't know why this tragedy happened...or why God allowed this (or any other tragedy to happen) but I think I know partly why Buechner borrowed from so many scripture passages that tell us not to be afraid....I think it is because God wants us to know that, no matter what happens, the darkness will never, ever overcome the light...

In fact...the darkness might just cause the light to shine that much brighter, like a Yellow Primrose Flower.

Ashes to Ashes

It seems strange that Lent is upon us and Ash Wednesday is already in our rear view mirror! Frankly,  I am still rejoicing over the Christ child being born, and my spirit has yet to move from seeing Christ for who he really is during the season of Epiphany.  But that is how the Christian calendar moves...and the season of Lent is here -- whether we think we are ready or not. 

So, what is Lent exactly?  What does the minister mean when he/she uses some ashes to make the cross of Christ on our forehead while saying the odd phrase, "From dust you came and from dust you will return." 

Growing up in San Antonio, we did not have many winter occasions that called for a night by the fireplace.  We had a fireplace, but it rarely got used...it was mainly for decoration.  For us, winter meant that we transitioned from wearing shorts and short-sleeve shirts into wearing jeans with our short-sleeve shirts. A cold "winter" night for us was anything under 45 degrees...if that happened, we had to break out the electric heated blankets, crank up the heat and start a fire.

 However, I do remember a few legitimate "winter" nights where at least a fire was needed...in fact, one particular winter we used the fire-place four or five consecutive nights.  I recall being surprised by the amount of ash that piled up after only a few nights of having a fire.

 It was my job to clean the ashes from the fireplace...I had never done that before (remember...this is South Texas).  So, I followed the instructions my parents gave me and began to shovel up the ashes and dump them in a paper bag. Unfortunately, I accidentally tipped the bag over and all the ashes I had collected rose in a cloud of smoke, danced in the air for a bit  and then landed softly all over the living room. I remember being stunned at how completely the ashes seemed to cover the entirety of the living room.  They rose together in a cloud, paused briefly and fell, landing independently, but in perfect form all over the room.  Needless to say, the vacuum cleaner was full of ashes that day.

In a spiritual sense, our sinful ash is all over us.  That is the primary purpose of Lent...to   remember that our dusty sin is ingrained in our hearts, souls and our very being.  We too often believe the lie that our dust doesn’t contaminate every facet of our lives, and Lent asks us to remember our dust. The dust dirties our lives with broken relationships, unfulfilled promises and hurt hearts.

Lent also asks us to live openly with our ash.  Elizabeth Evans notes, "Lent is an invitation to live honestly with our dust -- to not spend all our energy trying to hide it, but to acknowledge the dust in our homes for this season and see what we can learn."  

 Lent asks us to understand that we are not as in control of the dusty ash as we think we are, instead it asks us to give up control to the only person who can clean up our dusty mess -- Christ.

Perhaps you are not into "giving something up" for Lent or you are tired of the preacher trying to guilt you into a better life during this special season.  If that is the case, why don't you try practicing Lent by remembering your dust, living honestly with it and asking God to help you clean it up?