Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all which have the potential to turn a life around.
01782 – Turning a Life Around
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01754 – Space Between Stimulus & Response
Between stimulus and response there is a space... In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
01648 – When We Come To It
We, this people, on this small and drifting planet Whose hands can strike with such abandon That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness That the haughty neck is happy to bow And the...
01616 – You Coming?
I reject the version of Jesus who would have told the rich young ruler, “you are blessed” instead of, “give everything to the poor and follow me.” Who would have pushed women to the fringes of the narrative, instead of empowering Mary to be the first preacher of...
01610 – Power vs. Authority
The Quaker writer Richard Foster was the first to alert me, I believe, to the important distinction between power and authority. Power is claimed; authority is earned. Power is based on being in charge and having the leverage to impose punishment on others who might...
01591 – Scapegoating is Human Nature
Human nature, when it is seeking power, wants either to play the victim or to create victims of others. In fact, the second follows from the first. Once we start feeling sorry for ourselves, we will soon find someone else to blame, accuse or attack—and with impunity!...
01581 – Don’t Forget to Love
It is a big risk to love deeply, yet not to love is not to live.We need to love not just for the good stuff, but simply love for no good reason! So: Live freely. Sing your heart out. Cry until all your tears are spent. Laugh till you can't even catch your breath....
01580 – A Ferocious Enemy of Justice
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
01555 – God Came to Live with Us
When we celebrate Christmas we are celebrating that amazing time when the Word that shouted all the the galaxies into being, limited all power, and for love of us came to us in the powerless body of a human baby. My faith is based on this incredible act of love, and...
01516 – A Serious Malady of the Soul
A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relationship with God. We read our chapters, have our short...