Saturday, 7 December 2013

There comes an hour of sadness
With the setting sun,
Not for the sins committed,
But  the things I have not done.

(Minot Judson Savage, 1841 - 1918)

Friday, 6 December, 2013

Apparent failure may hold in its rough shell the germs of a success that will blossom in time, and bear fruit throughout eternity.

(Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 1825 - 1911)

Thursday ~ 5 December, 2013

Talk of Mysteries! Think of our life in nature - daily to be shown matter, to come into contact with it, rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! The common sense!Contact! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?

(Henry David Thoreau, 1817 - 1862)

Wednesday ~ December 4, 2013

When we can begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them.It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.

(Katherine Mansfield, 1888 - 1823)

Tuesday ~ December 3, 2013

The temptation is always to reduce life to size. A bowl of cherries. A rat race. Amino acids. Even to call it a mystery smacks of reductionism. It is the mystery. As far as anybody seems to know, the vast majority of things in the universe do not have whatever life is. Sticks, stones, stars, space - they simply are. A few things are and are somehow aware of it. They have broken through into Something, or Something has broken through into them. Even a jellyfish, a butternut squash. They're in it with us. We're all in it together, or it is us. Life is it. Life is with.

(Fredrick Buechner, 1926 - )

Monday ~ December 2, 2013

The ideal condition would be, I admit that we should be right by instinct. But since we are all likely to go astray, the reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach.

(Sophocles, c. 495 - 405)

Sunday ~ December 1, 2013

Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don't have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.

(Frederick Buechner, 1926 - )