disastrous:

As in the credit card of life that we swipe daily believing our choices have no consequences.

Julian of Norwich

"The best prayer is to rest in the goodness of God, knowing that that goodness can reach down to our lowest depths of need."

from, Revelations of Divine Love

revelation:

I think therefore God is.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

"You must know that there is nothing higher, or stronger, or sounder, or more useful afterwards in life, than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood, from the parental home. You hear a lot said about your education, yet some such beautiful, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man stores up such memories to take into life, then he is saved for his whole life. And even if only one good memory remains with us in our hearts, that alone may serve one day for our salvation...and keep [us] from great evil."

Alyosha in The Brother's Karamazov

musician:

A painter in sound.

Aristotle

"Without friends no one would choose to live."

from Nicomachean Ethics

George MacDonald

"The best thing you can do for your fellow next to rousing his conscience, is — not to give him things to think about, but to wake things up that are in him; or say, to make him think things for himself."

from his essay, "The Fantastic Imagination"

Hans Christian Andersen

"When flowers want to, they can fly. You have seen butterflies. Don't they look like yellow, red, and white flowers? That is exactly what they were once. They are flowers who have jumped off their stems and have learned to fly with their petals; and when they first get a taste for it, they never return to their stems, and their little petals become real wings."

from Little Ida's Flowers

quotation:

Words that are worth a thousand pictures.

now:

present - as in, a gift

stillness:

The restoring force of potential energy.

knot:

"Daddy, will you untie this knot for me?"

Seems a good metaphor for our way through life...

reality:

It can be as solid as bedrock and as shifting as clouds.

fantasy:

When done right, like Tolkien, Lewis or MacDonald, it leads into reality.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That's why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption."

wife:

The great blacksmith who forges the sword of loneliness into a butter knife.

liar:

The earned interest in the investment of secrets.

Eric Carle's Treasury of Classic Stories for Children

5 stars
This is the kind of book you get when you place together great stories and a great illustrator. Carle's painted tissue fabric collages make the tales come to life and wake up the imagination. The book includes 22 stories of several great authors: Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, & The Brothers Grimm.

For all things Eric Carle, check out his website here

labyrinth:

there and back again...

nothingness:

The devouring appetite of darkness. Its devastation lies in how you can take something, multiply it by nothing, and you are left with nothing.

G. K. Chesterton

"There are two ways to get enough: One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less."

prayer:

The illuminating torch that lets one see - revelation into awe into adoration into service...

The Divine Commodity: Discovering A Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity, Skye Jethani

5 stars
This is a very important book. I found it a thought provoking read. Skye's desire to engage the reader's imagination and inspire rather than tell is very compelling. His critique of our American evangelical tendencies is right on...this is a valuable book for anyone concerned about living out the life of Christ in a consumer driven world. I highly recommend it.

Click here for a link to the introdcution or to hear Skye tell about the book, see endorsements, buy, etc...

Skye is the managing editor of Leadership - visit the journal's blog: Out of Ur.

forgiveness:

It is the outcome of the Single Sacrifice that frees all the imprisoned - an eradication of the cage and the chains that bind. It is the gift named freedom (and not in the post-modern mindset where what is good for you is all that matters). Rather, it is a freedom from self so that we might live for others - we are freed into service.

value:

In art, it is the spectrum between light and dark. Herein the axiom holds true: life mimics art.

Practical Theology: An Introduction, Richard R. Osmer

5 stars
A truly beneficial work. Osmer, who is a professor of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary, writes a book that all ministers need to read. If you care about the church you need to pick up this book. He weaves together a beautiful tapestry of theory and practice. His model is one informed by scholarly research and yet the book remains an easy read . Filled with insightful narrative Osmer addresses the practitioner and invites them to ask:

What is going on?
Why is it going on?
What ought to be going on?
How might we respond?

Beyond the application of this text to the life of the church, I found Osmer's insights and exploration of these questions to be a helpful guide within all the various relationships and systems I find myself.

Osmer will be giving a free lecture open to the public on Spiritual Formation as Practical Theology on Thursday February 5th @ 7pm on the campus of Wheaton College in Barrows Auditorium (east entrance of the Billy Graham Center)

Friedman's Fables, Edwin H. Friedman

5 stars
A brilliant and masterfully written book. Friedman takes the genre of the fable to a new level as he explores the outworking of human relationships and living. As an ordained rabbi and practicing family therapist he brings a valuable perspective on the human condition and how we might begin to look at ourselves by looking through 24 stories he has constructed. In reading his tales the reader begins to read him or herself and address the fears and lies we often entertain. Using storytelling as a means to foster transformation, Friedman's work is a valuable tool for therapists, clergy, and teachers.

I highly recommend the supplemental "Discussion Questions" that are sold separately - a great discussion and reflection tool that takes you into the nuances of Friedman's stories.

Link to Amazon & more reviews

prophecy:

A reversal of tense - what will be becomes what is.