Tuesday ~ May 17, 2016

In the ordinary course of nature, the great beneficent changes come slowly and silently. The noisy changes, for the most part, mean violence and disruption. The roar of storms and tornadoes, the explosions of volcanoes, the crash of the thunder are the result of a sudden break in the equipoise of the elements; from a condition of comparative repose and silence they become fearfully swift and audible. The still small voice is the voice of life and growth and perpetuity. In the stillness of a bright summer day what work is being accomplished, what processes are being consummated!

(John Buroughs, 1837 - 1921)

Sunday ~ May 7, 2016

Do all the good you can,
By all the mans you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
As long as ever you can.

(John Wesley, 1703- 1791)

Saturday ~ May 7, 2016

I seek this day an active wonder. An active wonder is the desperate need of my mind and spirit. The awareness of the unexplored and the untried until I find my way into their secret places: this I need and I seek. The illumination of wonder over my familiar landscape, revealing ordinary things, fresh glories, making manifest in my familiar heights and depths that which I have never known; this I need and I seek this day.

(Howard Thurman, 1899 - 1981)

Monday ~ April 11, 2016

From the simplest lyric to the most complex novel, literature is asking us o pay attention. Pay attention to the frog. Pay attention to the west wind. Pay attention to the boy on the raft, the lady on the tower, the old man on the train. In sum, pay attention to the world and all that dwells therein and thereby learn at last to pay attention to yourself and all that dwells therein.

( Frederick Buechner, b. 1926 )

Sunday ~ April 3, 2016

No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across, but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don't ask, walk!

( Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844 - 1900 )

Saturday ~ April 2, 2016

Unless we are very, very careful, we doom each other by holding onto images of one another based on preconceptions that are in turn based on indifference to what is other than ourselves. This indifference can be, in its extreme, a form of murder and seems to me a rather common phenomenon.

Friday ~ April 1, 2016

You've got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble.

( James Baldwin, 1924 - 1987 )