I've been perplexed and sad this weekend and I find myself "drawing myself apart,*" sifting through my thoughts and feelings. I wrote this post and then deleted it and now I'm putting it here again. Here are some things (and admittedly, some of them bump up against each other--there's the rub) that have caught my attention as I seek peace and equilibrium once again between what I know and what I may not know. (It may or may not be helpful to you but they are the kinds of things I would want to share and chat with you about if you were sitting in my living room so here they are.)
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
"she became herself with tears" by Caitlin Connolly
"A Saint is a Sinner who Keeps on Trying" Dale Renlund
“Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit. Verily, verily I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.”
"Because God Put You in my Path" by Fiona Givens
Or: "And it came to pass that the Lord of the Vineyard wept"
(there's no title so I've made ones of my own)
“In life all must choose at times. Sometimes, two possibilities are good; neither is evil. Usually, however, one is of greater import than the other. When in doubt, each must choose that which concerns the good of others — the greater law — rather than that which chiefly benefits ourselves — the lesser law. The greater must be balanced against the lesser. The greater must be chosen whether it be law or thing. That was the choice made in Eden.”
"woman debating two truths" by Caitlin Connolly (also featured on the cover of Neylan McBaine's book)
“Reality is too demanding for me to feel very safe any more in the appalling luxury of my moments of utter skepticism. God’s tears in the book of Moses, at which the prophet Enoch wondered, tell me that God has not resolved the mystery of being. But he endures in love. He does not ask me to forego my integrity by ignoring the mystery or he would not have let Enoch see him weep. But he does not excuse me to forego my integrity by ignoring the reality which daily catches me up in joy and sorrow and shows me, slowly, subtly, its moral patterns of iron delicacy.”
"On Dealing with Uncertainty" by Bruce Hafen
(especially the concepts of concentric rings
and the paradigm of optimists, pessimists, and improvers)
“From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the Twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”
"Enduring" by Eugene England
“And I will be your light in the Wilderness.”
