And ultimately forgiveness is a gift of grace rather than an act of will. I have to be willing to forgive, but I cannot will myself to forgive. I can forgive with my mind, but forgiveness is finally a matter of the heart. And the forgiveness of the heart comes from...
There is also a legend that Mary was not the first young woman to whom the angel came. But she was the first one to say yes. And how unsurprising it would be for a fourteen-year-old girl to refuse the angel. To be disbelieving. Or to say: “Are you sure you mean—but...
Christ will come expected or unexpected, when God is ready, even while we are loudly demanding signs and proofs which close our hearts and minds to the Wildness of Love.
When I am constantly running, there is no time for being. When there is no time for being, there is no time for listening. I will never understand the silent dying of the green pie-apple tree if I do not slow down and listen to what the Spirit is telling me, telling...
If you’re going to care about the fall of the sparrow you can’t pick and choose who’s going to be the sparrow. It’s everybody, and you’re stuck with it. from The Arm of the Starfish
It is all right for me to pray for the small, silly things—Do not let me fall, Do not let me get laryngitis—as long as I hand the prayer, no matter how minor, no matter how foolish, to God. Your way, Lord, not mine.
And I learn faith, I deepen my faith, not only by exercising it but by reading Scripture, and contemplating the mighty acts of God…by being near people of faith, for faith is beautifully contagious.
Sometimes when I have not understood why God has not answered my prayer my way, it has been made clear to me later. Sometimes when it has seemed that my way has been done, I have learned later that it was not the best way. I am gradually learning to turn everything...
We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.
I sit on my favorite rock, looking over the brook, to take time away from busyness, time to be. I’ve long since stopped feeling guilty about taking being time; it’s something we all need for our spiritual health, and often we don’t take enough of it… When I am...