Reflections

Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.
~ Roy T. Bennett

We need to cultivate the courage to be uncomfortable and to teach the people around us how to accept discomfort as a part of growth.
~ Brené Brown, Professor/author/Speaker

In order to swim one takes off all one’s clothes–in order to aspire to the truth one must undress in a far more inward sense, divest oneself of all one’s inward clothes, of thoughts, conceptions, selfishness etc., before one is sufficiently naked.
~ Soren Kierkegaard, Philosopher

Conversion is a change of masters.
~ Charles Spurgeon

The best argument for Christianity is Christians… But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians – when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug…But, though it is just to condemn some Christians for these things,…it is not just to condemn Christianity itself for them. Indeed, there are impressive indications that the positive quality of joy is found in Christianity – and possibly nowhere else.
~ Sheldon Vanauken (1914-1996), American author

The needs of the world are much deeper than political freedom and security, much deeper than social injustice and economic development, much deeper than democracy and progress. The deeper needs of the world belong to the sphere of the mind, the heart, and the spirit, a sphere to be penetrated with the light and graceof Jesus Christ
~Dr. Charles Malik (1906-1987), Lebanese thinker and diplomat

This Sunday’s readings: Acts 16:4-19

Reflections

Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words. ~ Roy T. Bennett

When I discover who I am, I’ll be free. ~ Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

In order to swim one takes off all one’s clothes–in order to aspire to the truth one must undress in a far more inward sense, divest oneself of all one’s inward clothes, of thoughts, conceptions, selfishness, etc., before one is sufficiently naked. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, Philosopher

So much of me wants to be lost in my grand ideas and reflections, away from the noise and urgency of other people, but I cannot escape the fact that growth invariably involves the messiness of genuine human contact…I’ve yet to find a mature believer…who says you can grow into the full stature of Christ without bumping up against brothers and sisters on a regular basis… ~ Adam McHugh, Author, Introverts in the Church

The old ways are dead. And you need people around you who concur. That means hanging out more with the creative people, the freaks, the real visionaries, than you’re already doing. Thinking more about what their needs are, and responding accordingly. Avoid the dullards; avoid the folk who play it safe. They can’t help you anymore. Their stability model no longer offers that much stability. They are extinct, they are extinction. ~ Hugh MacLeod, author and clan chief

Paradigms are like glasses. When you have incomplete paradigms about yourself or life in general, it’s like wearing glasses with the wrong prescription. That lens affects how you see everything else. ~ Sean Covey

This week’s readings.