Quotations

Psalm 144

Let each one be receptive to the
Spirit that inspires
Allowing the will to respond
with action;
And may all judgments and denials
Be released
That our souls are freed to
Serve the Light with joy!
Thus will we recognize oneness with
The Divine Spark dwelling
Within our hearts,
Fanning it to illuminate the way.

~ Nan Merrill from her interpretation of Psalm 144 in PSALMS FOR PRAYING

Nan Merrill Psalms For Praying clarity

Lift up your faces

I, the Rock, I the River,
I the Tree
I am yours—
your passages have been paid.
Lift up your faces,
you have a piercing need
For this bright morning
dawning for you.

~ Maya Angelou from "On the Pulse of Morning" in ON THE PULSE OF MORNING

Maya Angelou ON THE PULSE OF MORNING clarity

Beannacht: For Josie

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue,
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

~ John O'Donohue, "Beannacht: For Josie" in TO BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US

John O'Donohue To Bless The Space Between Us clarity

Every moment

Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.

~ Walt Whitman in LEAVES OF GRASS

Walt Whitman Leaves Of Grass clarity

People are like stained-glass windows

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

~ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in ON DEATH AND DYING

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross ON DEATH AND DYING clarity

So shines a good deed

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.

~ William Shakespeare in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

William Shakespeare THE MERCHANT OF VENICE clarity

Everything That Ever Was

Like a wide wake, rippling
Infinitely into the distance, everything

That ever was still is, somewhere...

~ Tracy K. Smith from "Everything That Ever Was" in LIFE ON MARS

Tracy K. Smith LIFE ON MARS time

The ﬁerce magic emerging here

I can hear the sizzle of newborn stars, and know anything of meaning, of the ﬁerce magic emerging here. I am witness to ﬂexible eternity, the evolving past, and I know we will live forever, as dust or breath in the face of stars, in the shifting pattern of winds.

~ Joy Harjo in SECRETS FROM THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (VOLUME 17)

Joy Harjo SECRETS FROM THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (VOLUME 17) time

It has all been one day

This morning a splendid dawn passed over our house on its way to Kansas. This morning Kansas rolled out of its sleep into a sunlight grandly announced, proclaimed throughout heaven, one more of the very finite number of days that this old prairie has been called Kansas, or Iowa. But it has all been one day, that first day. Light is constant, we just turn over in it. So every day is in fact the selfsame evening and morning.

~ Marilynne Robinson in GILEAD

Marilynne Robinson Gilead time

Captured in the moment

Time as objective reality has never made much sense to me. It's what happens that matters. How can minutes and years, devices of our own creation, mean the same thing to gnats and to cedars? Two hundred years is young for the trees whose tops this morning are hung with mist. It's an eyeblink of time for the river and nothing at all for the rocks...

If there is meaning in the past and in the imagined future, it is captured in the moment. When you have all the time in the world, you can spend it, not on going somewhere, but on being where you are. So I stretch out, close my eyes, and listen to the rain.

~ Robin Wall Kimmerer in BRAIDING SWEETGRASS

Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass time

Born Again

I want to be born again, in exactly the selfsame life,
aware this time from the inside out, and to stand this time
as a beautiful un-worrying witness, living beyond
the need for this or that...

~ David Whyte from "Born Again" in RIVER FLOW: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS

David Whyte RIVER FLOW time

We age

We age while we hope.

~ Padraig O'Tuama

Padraig O'Tuama time

Thirty More Years

When I was a young man,
grown up at last, how large
I seemed to myself! I was a tree,
tall already, and what I had not
yet reached, I would yet grow
to reach. Now, thirty more years
added on, I have reached much
I did not expect, in a direction
unexpected. I am growing downward,
smaller, one among the grasses.

~ Wendell Berry, "Thirty More Years" in ENTRIES

Wendell Berry Entries time

Have patience

Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke in LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET

Rainer Maria Rilke Letters To A Young Poet time

The story takes shape

When we are young, the words are scattered all around us. As they are assembled by experience, so also are we, sentence by sentence, until the story takes shape.

~ Louise Erdrich in THE PLAGUE OF DOVES

Louise Erdrich THE PLAGUE OF DOVES time

A deeper meaning

It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.

~ Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh time

Psalm 105

Help us to live in the eternal moment,
awaiting your perfect timing
in all things.

~ Nan Merrill from her interpretation of Psalm 105 in PSALMS FOR PRAYING

Nan Merrill Psalms For Praying time

August Day

You work with what you are given —
today I am blessed, today I am given luck.

It takes the shape of a dozen ripening fruit trees,
a curtain of pole beans, a thicket of berries.
It takes the shape of a dozen empty hours.

In them is neither love nor love's muster of losses,
in them there is no chance for harm or for good.
Does even my humanness matter?
A bear would be equally happy, this August day,
fat on the simple sweetness plucked between thorns.

There are some who may think, "How pitiful, how lonely."
Other must murmur, "How lazy."

I agree with them all: pitiful, lonely, lazy.
Lost to the earth and to heaven,
thoroughly drunk on its whiskeys, I wander my kingdom.

~ Jane Hirshfield, "August Day" in GIVEN SUGAR, GIVEN SALT: 1951-1967

Jane Hirshfield GIVEN SUGAR, GIVEN SALT time

Wake Up

Wake up, my soul.
I don't know where you are,
where you're hiding,
but wake up, please,
we're still together,
the road is still before us,
a bright strip of dawn
will be our star.

~ Adam Zagajewski, "Wake Up" in ASYMMETRY

Adam Zagajewski ASYMMETRY time

Every single moment of our life

There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we'll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.

~ Pema Chödrön in THE WISDOM OF NO ESCAPE: HOW TO LOVE YOURSELF AND YOUR WORLD

Pema Chodron the wisdom of no escape time

The Hill We Climb

When the day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
If only we're brave enough to see it.

~ Amanda Gorman from "The Hill We Climb" in THE HILL WE CLIMB

Amanda Gorman The Hill We Climb clarity

The secret heart of time

The secret heart of time is change and growth.

~ John O'Donohue

John O'Donohue time

When I am among the trees

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness...

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
with light, and to shine."

~ Mary Oliver from "When I am among the trees" in DEVOTIONS: THE SELECTED POEMS OF MARY OLIVER

Mary Oliver Devotions sabbath

Almost everything

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes—including you.

~ Anne Lamott from her Ted Talk "12 Truths I Learned from Life and Writing"

Anne Lamott sabbath

To stop is to go towards

To stop is to go towards, to come closer to oneself, to awaken from the sleep of life. Only by stopping can one begin to see. The moment we stop, we begin to see the miraculous, the unknown, the uncharted.

~ Jeanne de Salzmann in THE REALITY OF BEING

Jeanne de Salzmann The Reality Of Being sabbath

Stopping is not a passive act

Stopping is not a passive act, but an active one. It requires us to consciously step out of our habitual patterns of thought and behavior, and to create a space for something new to emerge. It is in this space of stillness and openness that we can connect with our deepest selves and with the divine. We can receive guidance, inspiration, and healing, and we can begin to live from a place of greater authenticity and purpose.

~ Tami Simon in BEING TRUE: WHAT MATTERS MOST IN WORK, LIFE, AND LOVE

Tami Simon BEING TRUE sabbath

To rest is to give up

To rest is to give up on the already exhausted will as the prime motivator of endeavor, with its endless outward need to reward itself with established goals. To rest is to give up on worrying and fretting and the sense that there is something wrong with the world unless we are there to put it right.

~ David Whyte in CONSOLATIONS: THE SOLACE, NOURISHMENT AND UNDERLYING MEANING OF EVERYDAY WORDS

David Whyte Consolations sabbath

Come, Come, Whoever You Are

Come, Come, Whoever You Are
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving.
It doesn't matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vows
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.

~ Rumi in THE INVITATION

Rumi THE INVITATION sabbath

The sacrament of the present moment

Be encouraged, and offer up your simple naked being to the joyful being of God, which is both in you and yet greater than you. Hold the soft, warm compress of these loving words against your bodily self. Bypass the mind and even the affections of the heart, and forego any analysis of what you are, or are not. Simply that you are. This will be enough to launch you into the sacrament of the present moment where God is always hiding in plain sight.

~ Richard Rohr in THE NAKED NOW: LEARNING TO SEE AS THE MYSTICS SEE

Richard Rohr THE NAKED NOW: LEARNING TO SEE AS THE MYSTICS SEE sabbath

The Prelude

There comes a pause, for human strength will not endure to dance without cessation; and everyone must reach the point at length of absolute prostration.

~ William Wordsworth in "The Prelude" from THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

William Wordsworth THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH sabbath

The practice of stopping

The practice of stopping, of coming back to ourselves and the present moment, is a way of connecting with the divine within us and around us. It is a way of cultivating a deeper sense of presence, awareness, and gratitude for the gift of life... The simple act of pausing, of taking a conscious breath and a step back from our habitual reactivity, can be a powerful tool for awakening. In that moment of pause, we open a space for self-awareness and self-observation to arise. We become more conscious of our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, and we can choose how to respond, rather than simply reacting out of habit.

~ Cynthia Bourgeault in THE WISDOM JESUS

Cynthia Bourgeault THE WISDOM JESUS sabbath

When we stop

Stopping is an essential part of the spiritual life. If we cannot stop, we cannot see our True Nature. When we stop, we begin to see clearly, and we can appreciate the wonders of life. We can see that there is no separation between ourselves and the world, and we can marvel at the oneness of all things. To be fully present in the moment, we need to stop letting our mind race ahead to the future or dwell in the past. We need to let go of our distractions, our worries, and our busyness.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh in THE ART OF POWER

Thich Nhat Hanh THE ART OF POWER sabbath

Something, then rest

The secret is to not allow the fact that you can't do everything keep you from doing something. Something, then rest. Something, then rest.

~ Glennon Doyle in UNTAMED

Glennon Doyle UNTAMED sabbath

A day of reconnection

The Sabbath is not just a day of rest, but a day of reconnection. It is a time to reconnect with ourselves, with each other, and with the divine. By setting aside time to pause and reflect, we can recharge our spirits and renew our sense of purpose. We can remember what is truly important in life and let go of the distractions that pull us away from our true selves.

~ Mirabai Starr in WILD MERCY

Mirabai Starr WILD MERCY sabbath

Keeping Quiet

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands...

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.

Life is what it is about...

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves...

~ Pablo Neruda from "Keeping Quiet" in EXTRAVAGARIA

Pablo Neruda EXTRAVAGARIA sabbath

Turn our attention to what is holy

Sabbath time is a time when we turn our attention to what is holy, to what is sacred, to what is important. It's a time when we allow the clamor of the world to fall away and we listen for the still, small voice of God. It's a time when we allow ourselves to be embraced by the love of God, to rest in that love, and to be renewed and refreshed by it.

~ Macrina Weiderkehr in A TREE FULL OF ANGELS

Macrina Weiderkehr A Tree Full Of Angels sabbath

Diversity is the magic

Diversity is the magic. It is the first manifestation, the first beginning of the differentiation of a thing and of simple identity. The greater the diversity, the greater the perfection.

~ Thomas Berry in THE DREAM OF THE EARTH

Thomas Berry The Dream Of The Earth diversity

Our ability to reach unity in diversity

Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi diversity

Understanding the Different Types of Diversity in the Workplace

In the modern working world, we define diversity as a concerted effort to accommodate the full spectrum of human experience.

~ Blaise Radley from "Understanding the Different Types of Diversity in the Workplace" on the workday.com blog

Blaise Radley Workday.com Blog diversity

Psalm 148

Leaders of the nations and all peoples,
young and old,
Give praise! Unite together in all
your diversity,
that peace and harmony might
flourish on earth.

~ Nan Merrill from her interpretation of "Psalm 148" in PSALMS FOR PRAYING

Nan Merrill Psalms For Praying diversity

One song

All religions
All this singing
One song

~ Rumi in RUMI'S LITTLE BOOK OF THE HEART

Rumi Rumi's Little Book Of The Heart diversity

The one true thing we all have in common

Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common... Celebrate it every day.

~ Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill diversity

A beautiful mosaic

We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

~ Jimmy Carter from "Jimmy Carter 95th Birthday" in Newsweek magazine

Jimmy Carter Newsweek Magazine diversity

Revelations 7:9

I saw before me a huge crowd which no one could count from every nation and tongue. They stood before the throne and the Lamb, dressed in long white robes and holding palm branches in their hands...They said, Amen! Praise the glory, wisdom and thanksgiving and honor, power and might to our God forever.

~ Revelations 7:9 in THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE

The New American Bible diversity

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

~ Langston Hughes, "Dreams" in THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES

Langston Hughes The Collected Poems Of Langston Hughes diversity

Diversity may be

Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without.

~ William Sloane Coffin Jr. in THE COLLECTED SERMONS OF WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN - THE RIVERSIDE YEARS

William Sloane Coffin Jr. The Collected Sermons Of William Sloane Coffin - The Riverside Years diversity

We should each be free

If you're a boy and you like teaching, you like nursing, you would like to have a doll, that's OK. We should each be free to develop our own talents, whatever they may be, and not be held back by artificial barriers.

~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RUTH BADER GINSBURG: IN HER OWN WORDS

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Ruth Bader Ginsburg: In Her Own Words diversity

May I mindfully appreciate the diversity

May I mindfully appreciate
the diversity
of every being I encounter,
who, like flowers,
brings beauty, variety,
and sustenance
to our world.

~ Jean Smith in NOW!: THE ART OF BEING TRULY PRESENT

Jean Smith Now!: The Art Of Being Truly Present diversity

On the Beach

On the beach, at dawn;
four small stones clearly
hugging each other.
How many kinds of love
might there be in the the world,
and how many formations might they make
And who am I ever
to imagine I could know
such a marvelous business?

~ Mary Oliver from "On the Beach" in SWAN: POEMS AND PROSE POEMS

Mary Oliver Swan: Poems And Prose Poems diversity

The moment is holy

And suddenly, there it is, a loud whirring crashing into the silence: a field cricket singing in the fading light. We all stop to listen. From a distance, we must look like a strange bunch, leaning towards a bramble bush. For us, though, the moment is holy. A tiny, solitary creature has the power to lift our spirits.

~ Dara McAnulty in DIARY OF A YOUNG NATURALIST

Dara McAnulty Diary Of A Young Naturalist nature

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