A Harsh and Dreadful Thing

 "Compared to love in dreams, love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing." -Fyodor Dostoevsky 

Changing the World

If you want to change the world, you will hurt those around you.  

Really consider if the sacrifices you make them pay are worth it.

Sacrifice

Nothing great and good ever happens without self sacrifice:

whether the surrender of personal goals for the sake of the community,
           
to the daily sacrifices of a parent in raising their child.

Happiness

No one is satisfied with just pleasure.  
We must also have relationship and truth, and these always lead to unhappiness.  Strangely enough, a satisfied unhappiness.

Love and Suffering

‎"If we do all we can to avoid suffering, we will never experience the joy of loving." Henri Nouwen

Loving the Poor

Jesus doesn't call us to just be philanthropic to the poor. He calls us to love poor people.

Teach Us

“Teach us your own constancy in love, your humility, selflessness and generosity. Look in pity on our small and tarnished loving, protect and foster and strengthen it that it may be less unworthy to be offered to you and to your children. O Light of the world, teach us how to love.”
-Elizabeth Goudge

What Is Love?

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained” -CS Lewis.

Walk That Talk

"God loves us all"
-- we say that, but we have a hard time actually practicing that because we don't take the time to see people through God's eyes. When God looks at an individual, he sees that person as the same as every other person-- an object of loving value

Luv Is A Verb

Love isn't something you find, it's something you do.

Wisdom and Knowledge

"Knowledge puffs up; love builds up."

Look Into Their Eyes

“There should never be a brother, anywhere in the world, who sins and then, having looked into your eyes, goes away without receiving mercy, if mercy is what he seeks.”
-Francis of Assisi

"There Is But One Law"

“Our relationship to other people should not be a sort of extra burden added to our own crosses, not some pious exercise or duty or act of virtue. There is just one law here. Only this determines our relationship: seeing the image of God in the other and then adopting him as a son. This is where duty, virtue, and pious exercise all fade away.”
-Maria Skobtsova

Slow Suicide

How rare is the person who is truly concerned about the well-being of everyone! And how exhausted they must be! It is truly a form of suicide—but one that God will reward with life.

"All You Need Is Love"... Yeah, right

“Humane”, “right”, and “loving” are all in the eye of the beholder. It’s easy to say “Love, love, love” as a world principle. It’s harder for everyone to agree what love is. It’s better just to trust what God says about these things and leave the arguments behind.

Busy Prayer

Let me never be so caught up in my own troubles and anxieties and frustrations and hopes and ideals that I fail to hear Your impulses to love.

Why Won't You Talk To Me?

Communication requires two people to agree how they communicate. We must be prepared to communicate and we cannot force anyone else to have a time of communication. The more serious the matter, the more important to set a time where everyone can speak and listen openly.

The Foundation of Love

The foundation of all good and all rationality is the fact that life is foundationally chaotic and perverse. It is when we realize that rationality and righteous must be built on top of this wobbly foundation that true good can be done. God did not send his son because there was chaos on top of the righteousness—he loved the world despite its irrationality and self-deception.

Bad Flesh Days

Be prepared for bad days. For days when you just want to give up. For days when prayer seems difficult, even impossible. For days when the spirit is willing, but the flesh is just too weak. Prepare for them by praying for your weak self when your spirit self is in control. Prepare for them by setting boundaries around your weak self, even when your spirit self is in control. Prepare for them by loving all who you can, so they will be forgiving when your weak self is in control

Hiding From Ethics

Thought cannot avoid the ethical or reverence and love for all life. It will abandon the old confined systems of ethics and be forced to recognize the ethics that knows no bounds. But on the other hand, those who believe in love for all creation must realize clearly the difficulties involved in the problem of a boundless ethic and must be resolved not to veil from [humankind] the conflicts which this ethic will involve [us], but allow [us] really to experience them. To think out in every implication the ethic of love for all creation -- this is the difficult task which confronts our age.
-Albert Schweitzer