Ed Cyzewski > Quotes

“When you're hounded by the shame of the past, you can turn into a pretty miserable person who is always trying to measure up and please others.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together

“We have faith that the practices of silence, praying with scripture, or reciting the prayers passed on to us will bear fruit over time. If we continue to fight through our fears and anxieties in order to sit in silence, we trust that God can meet us, even if it leads to results we aren't expecting or doesn't even result in quantifiable progress.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together

“If you're trying to add something to your life without subtracting something else, there's a good chance the stuff that's already there will win.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together

“Contemplative prayer removes us from the driver's seat.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Once I am aware of what has been on my mind and have established ways to respond in faith with a particular prayer, sacred word, or silence before God, my anxious thoughts lose a great deal of their power.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“One evangelical generation after another earnestly studies the scriptures in search of Jesus, trying to get past the fact that Jesus said studying the scriptures is not the same thing as pursuing him.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Ironically, some anxious evangelicals get even more anxious at the mention of contemplative prayer. Isn't that too Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Isn't that Buddhist? Isn't that a slippery slope into NEW AGE RELIGION? Evangelicals are terrified of slippery slopes that start out innocent enough. One minute you're doing a downward dog stretch in a yoga studio and then the "eastern religion" slippery slope takes hold. Next thing you know, you're offering a fruit bowl to a pleasant little false idol statue somewhere in Asia. We've all heard that this happened once to a friend of a friend of someone we knew once at a church somewhere.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Closed systems that thrive on control that is managed with sticks and carrots can't help but fail the people they claim to protect.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Silence doesn’t have to be a major pilgrimage into the wilderness in order to find a solitary space. Everyday tasks such as driving around town, folding laundry, preparing food, washing dishes, or taking walks can all provide a measure of solitude each day when approached with the right mindset and a commitment to shut off televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones, radios, and anything else that could interrupt silence.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“However, if you're already inclined to both write and pray, you may as well figure out how they can help each other.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together

“The more I see God in these relationships with my children, the more I've become aware of how easily we can wall God's presence off from very important areas of our lives.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together

“a fresh carrot from the garden has a complex flavor that is lost after a few days in transit.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity

“If we’re not creating something, there’s a good chance we’ll start destroying something.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity

“I can't learn or will myself into God's holiness, but my own willpower and planning can make all of the difference in whether I am present for God and his transformation.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Writing and prayer are both hopeful leaps into the darkness.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together

“I seek distractions in order to avoid the struggle of creating.   Creating is hard. Distracting myself is really, really easy.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity

“If I am not in touch with my own belovedness, then I cannot touch the sacredness of others.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians

“When people pray, they're choosing to believe there's a good, loving God reaching out to us, listening to our prayers, and meeting with us.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Pray, Write, Grow: Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together

“We don't like facing either when there are so many other entertaining or enjoyable distractions at our disposal in an affluent culture. Evangelicals have tended to focus on vision retreats, growth, and mission, which can be fine in their proper places. However, a regular, sustained reflection on suffering and death simply isn't on the radar for many evangelicals who are concerned with preserving their own spiritual growth and the growth of a movement that remains anxious about its effectiveness. Why would we face the darkness of death and the uncertainty of suffering when we can easily justify our affluence as God's blessing or busy ourselves with God's work?”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“Switching to prayer as a response to anxiety, pain, or stress may require time and practice. Habits take time to form and will require time to change.”
― Ed Cyzewski, 10 Ways to Use Your Phone Less… and to Pray a Bit More: A Companion Guide to Reconnect

“All desires but one can fail. The only desire that is infallibly fulfilled is the desire to be loved by God. We cannot desire this efficaciously without at the same time desiring to love Him, and the desire to love Him is a desire that cannot fail. Merely by desiring to love Him, we are beginning to do that which we desire. Freedom is perfect when no other love can impede our desire to love God. But if we love God for something less than Himself, we cherish a desire that can fail us. We run the risk of hating Him if we do not get what we hope for. It is lawful to love all things and to seek them, once they become means to the love of God. There is nothing we cannot ask of Him if we desire it in order that He may be more loved by ourselves or by other men" (No Man Is an Island, 17-18).  Whether or not we realize”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“You have gifts to share. When used well, creativity isn’t just about you. It’s about what you have to give. It’s about leaving a mark, changing lives, and sparking a legacy that others can pass on.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity

“The mystics believe we go through spiritual darkness as a part of our transformation, not as the end of our faith and ministry.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians

“[W]e wouldn't want to read a book about a perfect character who never struggles with character flaws, a difficult past, or interpersonal conflict. Writers can powerfully connect with readers when they venture to these thin places of pain and brokenness because readers can see themselves in the pain and want to journey from pain and struggle toward redemption or some kind of resolution.”
― Ed Cyzewski

“A gift for others should be the absolute best thing you can produce. It should meet a real need, proclaim a truth, capture an emotion, or tell a story that is unique to you and makes the world better.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity

“the possibility of contemplative renewal in the evangelical movement, especially in America, could make this a particularly exciting time to be an evangelical. I can only hope that the American evangelical movement's cultural compromises to corporate leadership styles and power politics have been exposed for their crass moral bankruptcy and antipathy toward the Kingdom values of love and mercy. We are ripe for a change of course, and even if the majority stick to their culture wars and power hungry political crusades, a sizable minority can embody a hopeful, loving, and Spirit-directed path forward that will serve those in search of God and even evangelicals who inevitably burn out from the anxious defensiveness of their movement. In fact, if evangelicals have any hope as advocates for those suffering from poverty, injustice, racism, or xenophobia, we will especially need the inner transformation of contemplative prayer so that our activism is compassionate and merciful.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer

“I’m essentially running from myself.”
― Ed Cyzewski, Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity