Today I was reminded that 1/3rd of the psalms include lament, sadness, and pain.
That's not nothing.
May you remember that just as your joy as your matters to God, so does your grief. May you have what you need to honor your full humanity today.
#StronglikeWater
me: writing isn't a charming magical hobby. it is discipline. it is skill. you sit down every day and write. you are not precious. you are not twee.
also me: I must light the special candle, play the special music, and sit in the special spot or the Muse will not visit me.
What if there is no reason for your suffering?
What if, instead of reasons, there is redemption? Wouldn’t that be a better story than the narrative of “everything happens for a reason?”What if the story is actually “everything will be made right in the end?”
(Some of) my notebooks 2000-present — love having shelf space for them all, I like to look up today’s date in old ones and see how absolutely repetitive my life is 😂
I love how this FHBC project turned out! The glorious message of Christmas proclaimed in a beautiful way.
"But then the first promise of one who would come and undo the undoing the undoer had done."
We Watch Every Year https://t.co/rhYaEuOtoR via @YouTube
Hearts can heal. And when they do, ponder the sheer miracle of it. It’ll seem irreparable. You’re sure you won’t live long enough for the rupture to heal. Then days, months, a few years pass & 1 morning you realize something’s missing. The knife. The one in your chest. It’s gone.
By the way, people, you'll get a lot of stuff wrong in this world.
Some of it is blameworthy and some of it isn't and most of it is a little of both.
It's always about what you do next.
Do no harm is a worthy aspiration that must reboot every time it is imperfectly achieved.
Good day to everyone trying to bring calm and grounding in the places you live and love. That work is a massive gift. As @stevecusswords says, no one is truly non-anxious but we can be less anxious.
1st reason to read thro the whole Bible regularly: We cherry pick our favorite ideas from the Bible to create a theology of our making, not God's. Reading the entirety regularly confronts us with teaching we don't like and keeps us listening to God rather than just our own hearts
4. The Bible tells us the story of God’s plan to save the world. He gave it to us so we’d read it, love it, and let it change us into people who live it.
5. Time spent talking to God in prayer & hearing Him speak in Scripture leads our hearts to erupt with joy, wonder, and awe.
My loneliness does not depend on the presence or absence of people; on the contrary, I hate those who steal my solitude without, in return, offering me real company.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
I'm grateful for @AmandaHeldOpelt's good words on holiday time in her most recent newsletter. "Holidays serve an important role in our lives. They force us to stop, to contemplate the divine. Holidays are a holy interruption to our tightly controlled routines. " 1/