July Twenty-Nineteen

July Twenty-Nineteen 

"When hearts are willing

but our minds distracted

by the world in which we move,

forgive us.

When our souls are thirsty

and we drink from water

that so easily runs dry

forgive us.

May we seek your face

in a world which passes you by,

may we hear your voice

in a world focused on ‘I’,

may we know your mercy

and share it on our journey

this and every day."

By John Birch

“When I am fully alert to whatever or whoever is right in front of me; when I am electrically aware of the tremendous gift of being alive; when I am able to give myself wholly to the moment I am in, then I am in prayer. Prayer is happening, and it is not necessarily something I am doing. God is happening, and I am lucky enough to know that I am in The Midst.”

-Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World

"But let’s keep remembering that our kids are designed in unique and wonderful ways to meet unique futures that we can’t possibly prepare for.  We can keep leaning into the gifts they have been given and finding new ways to multiply them." 

-Lisa Jo Baker The Middle Matters

"Without patience, we will learn less in life. We will see less. We will feel less. We will hear less. Ironically, rush and more usually mean less." –Mother Teresa 

"Kids, follow God. Especially when it’s inconvenient, awkward, or uncool.  Keep following Him; always have a mind hungry to learn and a soul open to correction, instruction and the delight of learning something new. There was a Bible teacher who sat in the front row at a conference one night when I was the keynote speaker.  She’s written more books and studies than years I’ve lived, and I watched her take notes.  Pen in hand, she put down on paper what she was learning from what I was teaching. It was so shocking that I almost stopped to ask her what on earth I could possibly have said that was worth her recording. It was only later as I kept replaying the absurdity of it that I realized here is a teacher who has never stopped being a students.  She always shows up believing that God has something fresh to teach her, no matter who the messenger is. Be that kind of student, my sons and daughter. Be that kind of humble, hungry learner. Because you are never going to be able to check off all the knowledge of this world and the next in your own heart and soul and head.  So keep remembering to keep learning, even from the most unexpected sources." 

-Lisa Jo Baker, The Middle Matters 

"Don’t be afraid of growing bigger. Into a bigger view of the world and the remarkably, breathtakingly beautiful people who will weave in and out of your story and color wildly outside the lines of what you might have expected.  Don’t be afraid of them.  People are people are people, and the person you’re talking to there in the post office might be the most important conversation you have today. Don’t miss it.

Keep pushing forward into the one exquisite life that has been given to you, and keep sharing it with the people around you."

-Lisa Jo Baker, The Middle Matters

“Come dream with me. Dream of a fight for something bigger, something more important and worthwhile. We need to fight for justice and peace, for the walls between us to come crashing down.” ― John M. Perkins

"I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year." 

-Charles Dickens 

“An arch consists of two weaknesses which leaning one against the other make a strength.” 

–Leonardo da Vinci 

“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more that what we could learn from books.” 

– John Lubbock

“And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, 

if it finds you worthy, directs your course.” 

-Khalil Gibran The Prophet