“What we temptingly long for is too often a collection of selective memories of a stubborn nostalgia that has a tendency to gloss over the better things of life in the present moment. The best memories for one person can be the worst ones of another.”
“Later, I thought about how much our own concerns about being justified, about how we can see the fault in others without seeing our own imbalances and flaws can overshadow our ability to deal kindly with each other.”
“Because friendship has less to do with knowing facts about a person than with intuitive knowing of that person. Friendship happens at the subterranean level, which is why it is so easy to fall back into the old friendships of youth, even after thirty or forty years.”
“Maybe I needed the clouds to remind me of God’s presence – abiding and deep, covering the greatest mountains and the smallest valleys, claiming the entire world including me. God’s creation is always teaching us something about God and our role in this world. God never fails to use our surroundings as a means to reveal the depth of love and grace given to us.”
“And it is a way where what the Jews called the yoke of the Torah is replaced by the yoke of Jesus, one easier in terms of simplicity than the Law. Today we see it in terms of Jesus abiding love for his own.”
“Wrestling with ourselves destroys a kind of innocent belief in infallibility and power. It seriously stops us in our tracks and leaves us vulnerable.”
“We all thought that it was a splendid day to be born. After all, the celebration of the day didn’t involve presents, so she didn’t get cheated on any of those, and it did have bands, parades, and fireworks, which she could say was to celebrate her natal day.”
“Another option, instead of replaying chosen memories, is to use intentional prayer as a focus. That turns my attention away from the tapes my brain wants to run and towards thinking about God and ways that my relationship with God can help me work in the world.”
“Prayer changes things – starting with the person who does the praying. Prayer changes things by giving the one who prays a chance to both speak and listen to the presence and support of God in that person’s life.”
There may be a fever of prayerful activity, “raging against the dying of the light,” trying to stave off the coldness to come. They are symptoms of the southerning sun. Soon, some of us know, our prayers will be those of sleepwalkers, slow to respond to the promptings and proddings of the Spirit, fumbling and in danger of falling.