#ace

For most of my life I have thought of grace as a hope of a bright tomorrow in spite of the darkness of today--and this is true. In this way we are all like Pamela, walking a road to grace--hoping for mercy. What we fail to realize is that grace is more than our destination, it is the journey itself, manifested in each breath and with each step we take. Grace surrounds us, whirls about us like the wind, falls on us like rain. Grace sustains us on our journeys, no matter how perilous they may be and, make no mistake, they are all perilous. We need not hope for grace, we merely need to open our eyes to its abundance. Grace is all around us, not just in the hopeful future but in the miracle of now. ↗

— Richard Paul Evans

#grace #hope #inspiration #journey #mercy

Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood. ↗

— C.S. Lewis

#paganism #life

The teaching of the sexual tantras all come down to one point. Although desire, of whatever shape or form, seeks completion, there is another kind of union than the one we imagine. In this union, achieved when the egocentric model of dualistic thinking is no longer dominant, we are not united with it, nor am I united with you, but we all just are. The movement from object to subject, as described in both Eastern meditation and modern psychotherapy, is training for this union, but its perception usually comes as a surprise, even when this shift is well under way. It is a kind of grace. The emphasis on sexual relations in the tantric teachings make it clear that the ecstatic surprise of orgasm is the best approximation of this grace. ↗

— Mark Epstein

#desire #dualistic-thinking #grace #meditation #objectification

Placing the burden on the individual to break down doors in finding better education for a child is attractive to conservatives because it reaffirms their faith in individual ambition and autonomy. But to ask an individual to break down doors that we have chained and bolted in advance of his arrival is unfair. ↗

— Jonathan Kozol

#race #education

Are you desperate or determined? With desperation comes frustration. With determination comes purpose, achievement, and peace…. ↗

— James A. Murphy

#determination #peace #purpose #life

War does not answer war, war does not finish war. The only ending is peace. ↗

— Philippa Gregory

#peace #war #life

He hugs me tight while I look behind him, scanning faces like I did a few seconds ago. And like I will do for the rest of my life. ↗

— Ashley Elston

#scanning-faces #life

No one knows exactly where thought comes from, but it can be said that thought comes from the same place as whatever it is that beats our heart... it comes from being alive. ↗

— Richard Carlson

#beats #being #comes #exactly #heart

Many times in life, those who do the most correcting, need the most correcting. ↗

— Orrin Woodward

#life

If a man were to sow a field, he could not excuse his neglect by saying that it would be useless to sow unless God caused the seed to grow. He would not be justified in neglecting tillage because the secret energy of God alone can create a harvest. No one is hindered in the ordinary pursuits of life by the fact that unless the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it. ↗

— Charles H. Spurgeon

#providence #life