Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘Encouragement’

Aug 9

Magic and Wonder

“The magic of story. The wonder of words. The fertility of imagination.”― Allen Levi, Theo of Golden

“Sabbath is the time set aside to do nothing so that we can receive everything, to set aside our anxious attempts to make ourselves useful, to set aside our tense restlessness, to set aside our media-satiated boredom. Sabbath is the time to receive silence and let it deepen into gratitude, to receive quiet into which forgotten faces and voices unobtrusively make themselves present, to receive the days of the just completed week and absorb the wonder and miracle still reverberating from each one, to receive our Lord’s amazing grace.”― Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers

Anticipation, hope, enthusiasm
Thoughts, words, actions
Forgiveness, releasing, open heart
Reflection, rest, restoration
Letting the past be done
Allowing the future to unfold
Fertile ground of this day
Planting seeds of attention, gratitude, encouragement, presense, praise.
Amazing amazing grace.
Joy chosen and given in real time.

“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”― Kahlil Gibran

Aug 3

Daily Tax of Presence and Appreciation

“To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds,”― William James

“I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success, and I am for those tiny, invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which if you give them time, will rend the hardest monuments of man’s pride.”― William James

Effort, daily
Kindness, consideration, care
Small acts
Planting seeds
Sooner than later
Drops to waves
Wings spread
Pay attention
Put in effort
Give before receiving
Fearless and bold
Postpone no more
Joy, delight, gratitude, narrow path, extra mile
Baptized by, with, for love.

“We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We postpone and postpone until those smiling possibilities are dead… By neglecting the necessary concrete labor, by sparing ourselves the little daily tax, we are positively digging the graves of our higher possibilities.”― William James

Jul 27

Casting Seeds, Blooming Joy

“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.”― Robert Louis Stevenson

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”― Robert Louis Stevenson

Daily duties.
Delight.
Kindness.
Laughter.
Beauty.
Enthusiasm.
Encouragement.
Listening.
Curiosity.
Harvest only comes from planting seeds.
Tending, watering, waiting.
Joy on the path.
Cast seeds, light too.

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Jul 11

Secret Signature

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

“If you allow yourself to be the person that you are, then everything will come into rhythm. If you live the life you love, you will receive shelter and blessings. Sometimes the great famine of blessing in and around us derives from the fact that we are not living the life we love, rather we are living the life that is expected of us. We have fallen out of rhythm with the secret signature and light of our own nature.” – John O’Donohue, Anam Cara

Be kind.
To self.
Spilling over to others.
Presence daily.
Graciousness, generosity, gratitude.
Becoming and unfolding.
Beautifully, imperfectly, authentically.
Belonging and worthiness.
Time and timing.
Questions and answers.
Unknowing and knowing.
Intuition and trust.
Armour of light.
Rooted in joy.
Blooming in brilliant color.

“Do we dare to be ourselves? That is the question that counts.”― Pablo Casals

And do we dare to let others be themselves and respond in love and kindness.

Jun 25

Harness of WEIGHT

“Such weight, on the earth, is on our shoulders: gravity keeping us at home. But on the water we shake off the harness of weight; we glide; we are passengers of a sleek ocean bird with its single white wing filled with wind.”― Mary Oliver, Long Life: Essays and Other Writings

“What does it mean, say the words, that the earth is so beautiful? And what shall I do about it? What is the gift that I should bring to the world? What is the life that I should live?”― Mary Oliver, Long Life: Essays and Other Writings

What to put down.
Thoughts to rethink.
Assumptions to discard.
Kindness to offer.
Delight to bear.
To glide with grace.
Dance with light.
Dabble with joy.
Defy gravity.
Shake off the harness of weight.

“That’s the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. “Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?”― Mary Oliver, Long Life: Essays and Other Writings

Jun 13

Hidden in Plain Sight

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”― Roald Dahl

May I see what’s hidden
In plain sight
Beauty
Fun
Peace
Delight
Joy
In abundance
Rooted in hope and anticipation
Found with curiosity
Fresh eyes, open heart.

“In all things lies a hidden wonder, a transcendent force that eludes the ordinary gaze. Only the conscious soul—awakened and willing to seek, daring to dive where most fear to tread—will uncover it.”― Blade Seventh

Jun 9

2 Comments

Sweet Moments, Simple Delights

“Gratitude makes sweet miracles of small moments.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

“Maybe it’s time to decide I am going to wake with joy and enthusiasm each morning and treat myself to simple delights that awaken my soul. Maybe it’s time to bust out of my field of habit and sail over the split rail fence of new beginnings.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

Joy and enthusiasm
Pauses and playgrounds
Hopping the split rail fences of new beginnings
We get to choose our mindset, daily
To steer the car
What we cling to and carry
What we let go and put down
Small offerings
Simple delights
The power of a smile
The lift of an encouraging word.

“It begins with the smallest offering of a smile or an encouraging word.”― Mary Davis, Every Day Spirit: A Daybook of Wisdom, Joy and Peace

May 11

Make Waves, a Drop at a Time

“do good, bestow kindness, strive for beauty, seek and find the river that leads to life everlasting, and draw from the fountain that never runs dry.”― Allen Levi, Theo of Golden

“I did not save the world today,
Or change the course of history,
I walked the small and quiet way,
The life that God has given me. I woke up with the morning sun,
I sat awhile to think and pray,
I did my work till the day was done,
But I did not save the world today. I tried to live with gratitude,
To do the good that I could do,
To love the people close to me,
My neighbors and my family,
To share the kindness I’ve been shown,
To trust the Love that is my home,
To celebrate the tiny part I play,
But I did not save the world today. I hear the politicians speak,
Such big ideas and lofty claims,
My life, to theirs, seems small and weak,
But in God’s big hand we weigh the same. The saints and poets seem to know,
The law behind the ocean tide,
The world gets changed and moved along,
By little gestures multiplied. So I try to live with gratitude,
To do the good that I can do,
To love the people close to me,
My neighbors and my family,
To share the kindness I’ve been shown,
To trust the Love that is my home,
To celebrate the tiny part I play,
But I did not save the world today.”
― Allen Levi, The Last Sweet Mile

Small acts
Seeds planting
Drops to rolling waves
Smile, laughter, delight
Joy out loud
Encouragement, noticing, interest
Slowing to witness, partake, participate
Ordinary days rich with color, nuance, light
In small deliberate acts, love multiples, compounds
Changing the world
Kindness, generosity, enthusiasm
Love well, cast light.

“the best portion of a good person’s life is ‘the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.”― Allen Levi, Theo of Golden

Mar 27

Gathering Counterweights

“When we take ourselves too seriously, we are at the risk of taking other things, including God, too lightly,”― James J. Martin, Between Heaven and Mirth

“This is not a ‘silver lining’ situation, where pain and injustice are minimized for the sake of flimsy optimism or playing nice. It’s not even about hoarding our favorite things. We are not guaranteed to have those things within our reach. The practice of gathering counterweights is about creating moments of sustenance from the raw materials of what we’re given. It is about holding everything in honest tension. Both/and. Our counterweights help us move forward and breathe through the heaviness.” – Shannan Martin

Goodness
Kindness
Generosity
Delight
Laughter
Flowers
A smile
Asking
Listening
Art
Music
Movement
Joy
Frolic
Counterweights
To gather and hold
A sense of imperfect yet palpable balance, ease
Atune, awake, off autopilot
Run the race, marathon not sprint
To fight the good fight
Of love, gratitude, peace
Precisely and on purpose
In the middle of the mess, chaos, noise, uncertainty
Long game, resilience, grit, grace
Make the world a little softer today for yourself and others
Cast light.

“What on earth can we do to make this sad and beautiful world a little softer for everyone?”― Shannan Martin, The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God’s Goodness Around You

Mar 1

Better Things Ahead

“Wherever you are, be all there.” – Jim Elliot

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”― C.S. Lewis

No map.
No list.
No destination.
But to be fully present.
Rapt attention.
Wander and wonder.
Imagination and anticipation.
The journey unfolding as you step into it.
To be here and awake.
Walk it out.
All of it.

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”― C.S. Lewis

« Older Entries