Each day, I remind myself that we are not here to control the environment, but to learn the lessons of humility and surrender. When I am capable of that, my life takes on a wholly different meaning. I no longer feel so small and separate. It is as though I am being held by a power that is both infinitely great and infinitely tender. My love does not exist in isolation; rather it is supported and enriched by my love for this world. This kind of trust is not something of our own creation; it comes to us in a moment of extraordinary grace.
~ from A PASSION FOR THIS EARTH by Valerie Andrews
Our world is so full of conditions
—
demands, requirements, and obligations
that we often wonder what is expected of us.
But when we meet a truly free person
[a truly giving person]
there are no expectations,
only an invitation
to reach into ourselves
and discover there
our own freedom.
~ from Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen, as quoted in "Thin Places" Sept/Oct/Nov 2010
Only when we have the courage to cross the road and look in one another's eyes can we see there that we are children of the same God and members of the same human family.