Gentle us, Holy One,
into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go of heavy expectations,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties, that,
softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery,
we may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy that is you.
–Ted Loder
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rain fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again, May God hold you
In the palm of his hand.
–Irish Blessing
The day may bring many strange things to us,
perplexing or painful or disappointing;
but this stands strong: our prayer
has not been turned away,
nor His lovingkindness.
–Amy Carmichael (1867-1951)
Edges of His Ways
Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.
― J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers
We must never get into the habit
of being preoccupied with the future.
There is no reason to do so.
God is there.
–Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Correction does much,
but encouragement does more.
–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In everyone’s life, at some time,
our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame
by an encounter with
another human being.
We should all be thankful
for those people who
rekindle the inner spirit.
–Albert Schweitzer
The night is long,
and dark, and stormy,
but the morning must come;
and oh what a sunrise
will it be!
–John Angell James
(1785 – 1859)
