^{A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
~ William Blake}

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.
~ Christopher James Gilbert, 1987- , author, philosopher, musician

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.
~ Virginia Woolf, 1882–1941, English writer

Matthew 5:1-10

Without transformation, you can assume you’re at a high moral, spiritual level just because you call yourself Lutheran or Methodist or Catholic. I think my great disappointment as a priest has been to see how little actual spiritual curiosity there is in so many people.
~ Richard Rohr, 1943- , Franciscan Priest

You are who you are when nobody’s watching.
~ Stephen Fry, 1957- , media personality, writer

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.
~ Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821, military officer, statesman

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
~ Aristotle, 384-322 BC, philosophy and polymath

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

But to deviate from the truth for the sake of some prospect of hope of our own can never be wise, however slight that deviation may be. It is not our judgement of the situation which can show us what is wise, but only the truth of the Word of God. Here alone lies the promise of God’s faithfulness and help. It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is always to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945

People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
~ Carl Jung, 1875-1961, Psychology and Alchemy

The English word “courage” is derived from the French coeur, which literally means “heart.” And since “heart” has traditionally (and metaphorically) been regarded as the seat of emotion, spirit, and strength of character, the implication of such etymology is clear: courage involves the capacity to bear difficulties without wincing, to dare and be innovative, and to do what is needed regardless of its frightening consequences.
~ Salman Akhtar, 1946- , Indian-American psychoanalyst

Glory [is not] transient but eternal. Not vaporous but weighty. Not fragmented and fleeting, but joy fulfilled and forever. Because whatever glory may be like, it is defined by the presence of God himself, apart from whom there is no good thing.
~ Matthew McCullough, PhD, Vanderbilt University, pastor

This kingdom of God life is not a matter of waking up each morning with a list of chores or an agenda to be tended to, left on our bedside table by the Holy Spirit for us while we slept. We wake up already immersed in a large story of creation and covenant, of Israel and Jesus, the story of Jesus and the stories that Jesus told. We let ourselves be formed by these formative stories, and especially as we listen to the stories that Jesus tells, get a feel for the way he does it, the way he talks, the way he treats people, the Jesus way.
~ Eugene H. Peterson, 1932-2018