october twenty-fourteen

    The Best Season

Ten thousand flowers in spring,

the moon in autumn,

a cool breeze in summer,

snow in winter.

If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,

this is the best season of your life.

-Wu-Men 

As Henry James said, “Three things in human life are important:  the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." –Winston Churchill

The future I leave in the hands of an Almighty and all-loving God—what could be more secure, as God is faithful? May we, too, be faithful.  - Dr. Catherine Hamlin The Hospital by the River

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” 

And he replied:“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

"When you open the windows, do you have to beg the fresh air to come in? Or when you open the curtains in the morning, do you have to argue with the sun to make it shine into your room? How silly! You just open the windows and the air flows in. You open the curtains and the sun shines in.

The Bible says it's like that with God's peace. It will flow into our hearts, if we let it. Are you worried? Are you anxious? Is anything troubling you today? Don't try to work it all out by yourself. Let God's peace flow in- like sunshine into a dark room." 

-Sally Lloyd Jones Thoughts That Make Your Heart Sing 

"Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts." (Colossians 3:15- NLT) 

"We need to savor each moment as though it were a bowl of homemade soup prepared by someone who loves us very much." 

-Don Postema Space for God 

It is no accident that we speak of paying attention to people; attention is the most valuable currency we have. –John Ortberg

Play needs no purpose. That is why play can go on and on as long as players find it meaningful. After all, we do not dance in order to get somewhere. We dance around and around. A piece of music doesn’t come to an end when its purpose is accomplished. It has no purpose, strictly speaking. It is the playful unfolding of a meaning that is there in each of its movements, in every theme, every passage: a celebration of meaning. -Brother David Steindl-Rast 

a favorite quote of the month...