Remember this, that your life is short,
your duties many, your assistance great,
and your reward sure. Therefore, faint not,
hold on and hold up in ways of well-doing,
and heaven shall make amends for all.
— Thomas Brooks (1608-1680)
Choosing Joy
I have to learn to steal all the joy
there is to steal and lift it up
for others to see…
It means choosing light even
when there is so much darkness…
choosing truth even when
we’re surrounded with lies…
Joy never denies sadness,
but transforms it
to fertile soil for more joy.
–Henri Nouwen
Living Life With God
The Lord is my shepherd. In other words, I’m in the care of someone else. I’m not the one in charge. I’ve taken my kingdom and surrendered it to the kingdom of God. I am living the with-God life. The Lord is my shepherd.
–Dallas A. Willard
I am one in whom Christ dwells
and delights. I live in the strong
and unshakeable kingdom of God.
The kingdom is not in trouble,
and neither am I.
–James Bryan Smith
This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
–Maltbie D. Babcock
Grace for the Journey
Each one of us may be sure
that if God sends us on stony paths,
He will provide us with strong shoes;
and He will not send us out on any journey
for which He does not equip us well.
– Alexander MacLaren
Rich in Patience
How patient God is! Only we don’t know what patience is. We know the word, the label put on the outside. We don’t know the thing, except sometimes in very smallest part. For patience is love at its best.
Patience is God at His strongest
and tenderest and best.
I think likely when we get up yonder, we’ll stop one another on the golden streets. There’ll be a hand put out, gripping the other hard. And we’ll look into each other’s eyes with our eyes big. And we’ll say with breaking voices, “How patient God was with us down there on the earth, down there in London and New York.”
…We may leave God practically out. So many of us do. But He never leaves us out. The creating, sustaining touch of His Hand is ever upon each of us, upon all the world.
–S. D. Gordon
Called To Encourage
One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement… It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals; it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others. The world is full of discouragers. We have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.
– William Barclay
No Cause To Fear
If the Lord be with us,
we have no cause of fear.
His eye is upon us, His arm over us,
His ear open to our prayer –
His grace sufficient,
His promise unchangeable.
– John Newton
A Place of Refuge
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken
those who seek you.
– Psalms 9:9-10
A Place Of Peace
Peace = Our lives hidden in Christ,
our feet standing in grace,
our hearts rooted in God’s love,
our stories being written
by our Father.
–Scotty Smith
Well Anchored
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Stedfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.
– Priscilla J. Owens
A Strong Hope
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul…”
(Heb. 6:19)
Hope is more than feeling.
Hope is more than experience.
Hope is more than foresight.
Hope is a command.
Obeying it means life, survival,
endurance, standing up to life until
death is swallowed up in victory.
–Juergen Moltmann
Isn’t It Odd?
Isn’t it odd, that a Being like God,
Who sees the façade,
still loves the clod
He made out of sod;
now isn’t that odd?
–Author unknown
Traveling Confidently
All that lies behind me, all the wrong I have done can no longer separate me from him. He sets it all straight. What lies ahead of me . . . I accept from his hand. And nothing can happen to me, nothing can touch me that has not first passed his inspection and proved to be for my best welfare.
— Helmut Thielicke
He Does It Well
He that will not believe in Christ must see to it how he can get along without him. As for you and me, we cannot. We need someone who will lift and hold us up when we are alive and who will lay his hand beneath our heads when we must die, and this he can do abundantly according to what is written about him, and we know of nobody whom we’d rather have do it.
– Matthias Claudius
Working With God
If I can put one touch
of rosy sunset into the life
of any man or woman,
I shall feel that I have
worked with God.
― G.K. Chesterton
Encouragement
One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement…It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals; it is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it is easy to discourage others. The world is full of discouragers. We have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.
—William Barclay
The Divine Weaver
Trust God to weave your
thread into the great web,
though the pattern
shows it not yet.
— George MacDonald
Photo by Lida
He’ll pick you up
Each time you fall
He’ll pick you up.
He knows your own efforts
are never going to bring you
anywhere near perfection.
–C. S. Lewis
A Living Hope
In his great mercy he has given us
new birth into a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3).
Hope is more than feeling.
Hope is more than experience.
Hope is more than foresight.
Hope is a command.
Obeying it means life,
survival, endurance,
standing up to life until death
is swallowed up in victory.
–Jürgen Moltmann
Perichoresis 