Fire of the SpiritFire of the Spirit, life of the lives of creatures, spiral of sanctity, bond of all natures, glow of charity, lights of clarity, taste of sweetness to sinners— be with us and hear us. Composer of all things, light of all the risen, key of salvation, release from the dark prison, hope of all unions, scope of chastities, joy in the glory, strong honor— be with us and hear us.
—Hildegard of Bingen in Breakfast with the Saints
No waste You must learn, you must let God teach you, that the only way to get rid of your past is to make a future out of it. God will waste nothing.
—Phillips Brooks, quoted in Heirlooms
Saved from ourselves Christ died to save us, not from suffering, but from ourselves; not from injustice, far less from justice, but from being unjust. He died that we might live—but live as he lives, by dying as he died who died to himself that he might live unto God. If we do not die to ourselves, we cannot live to God, and he that does not live to God, is dead.
—George MacDonald in Unspoken Sermons (Series 3)
Beyond “luck” You don’t just luck into things as much as you’d like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it’s friendships or opportunities.
—Barbara Bush, quoted in Fresh-cut Flowers for a Friend
Giving God the glory Divine speech is articulation of God’s presence. … The Magnificat is a biblical theology in miniature, because it begins and it ends in an exaltation not of Mary but of the Word.
—Samuel Terrien in The Magnificat: Musicians as Biblical Interpreters
The dynamics of life God whispers to us in our pleasures … but shouts in our pains.
—C. S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain
When God says no A young pastor friend has … been through the trial of his life. When I saw him recently, he asked me, “What do you do when God doesn’t say yes—doesn’t give it, doesn’t make it happen?” Then he answered his own question: “Through agony I’ve gotten to know God better; I love him more . …”
He showed me a piece of paper he keeps in his wallet. It says, “Look to his face, not to his hand.”
—Anne Ortlund quoted in My Heart Sings
Fireproof universe I take great comfort in God. I think He is sometimes much amused at the human race, but on the whole He loves us. He would never have let us get at the match-box if He had not known that the frame-work of the universe is fireproof.
—James Russell Lowell, quoted in Heirlooms
Victories hard won Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.
—C. H. Spurgeon, quoted in Streams in the Desert
Transcendent boldness There is a false boldness for Christ that only comes from pride. A man may rashly expose himself to the world’s dislike and even deliberately provoke its displeasure, and yet do so out of pride. … True boldness for Christ transcends all, it is indifferent to the displeasure of either friends or foes. Boldness enables Christians to forsake all rather than Christ, and to prefer to offend all rather than to offend Him.
—Jonathan Edwards in Religious Affections
Touching heaven There are people who try to raise their souls like a man continually taking standing jumps in the hopes that, if he jumps higher every day, a time may come when he will no longer fall back but will go right up to the sky. Thus occupied he cannot look at the sky. We cannot take a single step toward heaven. It is not in our power to travel in a vertical direction. If however we look heavenward for a long time, God comes and takes us up. He raises us easily.
—Simone Weil in Waiting for God
Of wants and needs Faith in God will not get for you everything you may want, but it will get for you what God wants you to have. The unbeliever does not need what he wants: the Christian should want only what he needs.
—Vance Havner in By the Still Waters
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