"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet."
— Frederick Buechner (Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC)
"We must be careful with our lives, for Christ's sake, because it would seem that they are the only lives we are going to have in this puzzling and perilous world, and so they are very precious and what we do with them matters enormously." — Frederick Buechner
"To journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any sense that really matters, even to ourselves, because it is only by journeying for the world's sake - even when the world bores and sickens and scares you half to death - that little by little we start to come alive."
— Frederick Buechner (The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days)
"The life i touch for good or ill will touch another life, and in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt."
— Frederick Buechner
i love frederick buechner- i especially love his book, 'the alphabet of grace'. i have written down many of his wise words. for some reason, i'm thinking on these things. about what we do with our years here- our months- days, and, hardest for me- minutes. when i read these quotes, i automatically think large scale- i think career, or calling, or difference making. i assume he's referring to macro-level choices. but that's probably because for me, it's easier to think big. to dream or wander into goals and purpose. and there is nothing wrong with it- but i'm totally humbled by the minutes. what i can be really bad at, is the seconds even.
the word 'life' seems so big- until you see the last breaths- we are made up of them, the rise and fall of our chests- and with out those breaths - there is no life. the micro-scale can not be forgotten. character should be measured out by how we live in the mundaneness of our lives, not in the bright lights. why is this so hard? why do i get so bothered by the moments that disrupt my big picture? why can't i live into those moments- those which are actually real- present-happening, when who knows what that next moment will even bring? maybe i won't make it to the years. maybe this is all i'll get. squandered by my planning.
this morning i was trying to have devotions- to read the celtic prayer book, the bible and to pray. bryn kept climbing on me, my chair, jumping off onto the dog and making noise for the sake of making noise. i was getting irritated after asking him to stop several times and explaining what i was doing. finally i just snapped, " bryn! be quiet! get out of here! i am trying to pray!" not a good moment. what kind of a touch was that spreading? not a loving voice- not peaceful- but resentful, annoyed, selfish- and of all things, it wasn't because i was making dinner or talking on the phone- but praying. i can just see God shaking he head and laughing at me- "oh, will she EVER get it?"
humbled by the moments.
i began to think about these quotes- and what if 'the world' really means the lives of my children- my friends-my neighbors. because it does. not necessarily glamorous, but the world starts at home. my touch begins with three blond heads getting crabbily out of bed, missing their daddy, and changing their minds about which shirt they want to wear three times. am i thinking about their 'deep hunger' or are my eyes looking to africa? it has to start at home. am i journeying for their sake?
sigh. rats. foolishly i stumble through my days- amazed at my own inability to live out what i know, in the moment.
the grace, is in being loved anyway. the grace is in forgiveness despite the absurdity of it and the repetition. the grace is in another day- to slow it down, to remember a breathe, to live in that breath for a minute, to take pause, and then, to try again.
"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."
— Frederick Buechner
— Frederick Buechner (Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC)
"We must be careful with our lives, for Christ's sake, because it would seem that they are the only lives we are going to have in this puzzling and perilous world, and so they are very precious and what we do with them matters enormously." — Frederick Buechner
"To journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any sense that really matters, even to ourselves, because it is only by journeying for the world's sake - even when the world bores and sickens and scares you half to death - that little by little we start to come alive."
— Frederick Buechner (The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days)
"The life i touch for good or ill will touch another life, and in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt."
— Frederick Buechner
i love frederick buechner- i especially love his book, 'the alphabet of grace'. i have written down many of his wise words. for some reason, i'm thinking on these things. about what we do with our years here- our months- days, and, hardest for me- minutes. when i read these quotes, i automatically think large scale- i think career, or calling, or difference making. i assume he's referring to macro-level choices. but that's probably because for me, it's easier to think big. to dream or wander into goals and purpose. and there is nothing wrong with it- but i'm totally humbled by the minutes. what i can be really bad at, is the seconds even.
the word 'life' seems so big- until you see the last breaths- we are made up of them, the rise and fall of our chests- and with out those breaths - there is no life. the micro-scale can not be forgotten. character should be measured out by how we live in the mundaneness of our lives, not in the bright lights. why is this so hard? why do i get so bothered by the moments that disrupt my big picture? why can't i live into those moments- those which are actually real- present-happening, when who knows what that next moment will even bring? maybe i won't make it to the years. maybe this is all i'll get. squandered by my planning.
this morning i was trying to have devotions- to read the celtic prayer book, the bible and to pray. bryn kept climbing on me, my chair, jumping off onto the dog and making noise for the sake of making noise. i was getting irritated after asking him to stop several times and explaining what i was doing. finally i just snapped, " bryn! be quiet! get out of here! i am trying to pray!" not a good moment. what kind of a touch was that spreading? not a loving voice- not peaceful- but resentful, annoyed, selfish- and of all things, it wasn't because i was making dinner or talking on the phone- but praying. i can just see God shaking he head and laughing at me- "oh, will she EVER get it?"
humbled by the moments.
i began to think about these quotes- and what if 'the world' really means the lives of my children- my friends-my neighbors. because it does. not necessarily glamorous, but the world starts at home. my touch begins with three blond heads getting crabbily out of bed, missing their daddy, and changing their minds about which shirt they want to wear three times. am i thinking about their 'deep hunger' or are my eyes looking to africa? it has to start at home. am i journeying for their sake?
sigh. rats. foolishly i stumble through my days- amazed at my own inability to live out what i know, in the moment.
the grace, is in being loved anyway. the grace is in forgiveness despite the absurdity of it and the repetition. the grace is in another day- to slow it down, to remember a breathe, to live in that breath for a minute, to take pause, and then, to try again.
"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."
— Frederick Buechner
2 comments:
Ah hah.
love those quotes... should read that book. Enjoyed dinner last night! (colleen)
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