Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow;
The same God who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day.
Either God will shield you from suffering or God will give you strength to bear it
Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and sufferings
St Francis de Sales
Our bodies know they belong;
it is our minds that make our lives so homeless.
John O Donohue
I dream of a quiet man who explains nothing and defends nothing
but only know where the rarest wildflowers are blooming
and who goes
and finds that he is smiling not by his own will
Wendell Berry
photo ross
One is never lacking in opportunities each day to be happy,
as the wonderful G.K. Chesterton reminded us in 1908:
The test of all happiness is gratitude.
Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets.
Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he puts in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs?
photo nevit dilmen
Even in the midst of great pain, Lord,
I praise you for that which is.
I will not refuse this grief
or close myself to this anguish.
Let shallow men pray for ease:
“Comfort us; shield us from sorrow.”
I pray for whatever you send me,
and I ask to receive it as your gift.
You have put a joy in my heart
greater than all the world’s riches.
I lie down trusting the darkness,
for I know that even now you are here.
Psalm 4, from Stephen Mitchell, A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew.
Thomas Merton wrote, “there is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.” There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage.
I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright….Go up into the gaps. If you can find them; they shift and vanish too. Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the soil, turn, and unlock – more than a maple – a universe. This is how you spend this afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
