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

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

The primary barrier to displaying the beauty of Jesus in our churches comes from the way we re-insert ourselves into that sacred center that belongs to him alone. Exalting ourselves diminishes his visibility. That is why cultivating a gospel culture requires a profound, moment-by-moment ‘unselfing’ by every one of us. It is personally costly, even painful.
~ Ray Ortlund, pastor and author

Isaiah 9:6-7

The test of Christian character should be that a man is a joy-bearing agent to the world.
~ Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American clergyman

In those moments of un-naming when we have lost ourselves, we must remember to return to our past redemptions to find God’s mark of glory on our abandonment, betrayal, and shame. We wrongly believe that we will be happy if we can escape the past. But without our past we are hollow and plastic beings who have only common names and conventional stories. When we enter into our story at the point we lost our name, we are most likely to hear the whisper of our new name.
~ Dan B. Allender from To Be Told: God Invites You to Coauthor Your Future

It’s not only more blessed to give than to receive, it’s also a whole lot easier.
~ Frederick Buechner, 1926-2022, American author

God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises, leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself.
~ Dietrich Bonhöffer, 1906-1945, German Lutheran pastor

True giving is participating, participating in the life and work of the donee, participating in one’s universe as a sympathizing member. No one can participate without giving first. Giving is essential for a meaningful existence.… All communication begins with giving, offering.
~ Jan van Baal, 1909-1992, Dutch anthropologist

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

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

These illustrations suggest four general maxims[…]. The first is: remember that your motives are not always as altruistic as they seem to yourself. The second is: don’t over-estimate your own merits. The third is: don’t expect others to take as much interest in you as you do yourself. And the fourth is: don’t imagine that most people give enough thought to you to have any special desire to persecute you.
~ Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, Philosopher, Mathematician, The Conquest of Happiness

============== Isaiah 8:18-22; 9:1-4 ==============

The engaged mind, illuminated by truth, awakens awareness; the engaged heart, affected by love, awakens passion. May I say once more – this essential energy of the soul is not an ecstatic trance, high emotion or a sanguine stance toward life: It is a fierce longing for God, an unyielding resolve to live in and out of our belovedness.
~ Brennan Manning, 1934-2013, Author, public speaker, Abba’s Child

People are always clinging to what they want to hear, discarding the evidence that doesn’t fit with their beliefs, giving greater weight to evidence that does.
~ Paula Stokes, Author, The Key to Everything

I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room.
~ Barbara Kingsolver, 1955- , Author, essayist

There is no smaller package in the world than a man wrapped up in himself.
~ William Sloane Coffin, 1924-2006, Minister, author

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, founded the school of analytical psychology

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
~ Desmond Tutu, 1931-2021, Anglican Archbishop in South Africa