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Reading such stories in the Old Testament, I’ve come up with a simple principle to explain how God can use the likes of such imperfect men and women: God uses the talent pool available.
renowned psychologist Alice Miller introduced the concept of the “enlightened witness”—somebody both able and willing to take a child’s side and protect him or her from any dangers of abuse.
She was skilled in the art of disarmament—the craft of using a word or tone to diffuse my mother’s anger.
As my friend Richard Rohr said, “If we don’t learn to transform the pain, we’ll transfer it.”
Shakespeare described love as an “ever-fixed mark.”
Leave everything and come with me into the desert. It is not your acts and deeds that I want; I want your prayer, your love.
Jesus demanded but personal renewal, fidelity to the gospel, and creative conduct.
“You are on the threshold of receiving the greatest grace of your life. You are discovering what it means to be poor in spirit. Brother Brennan, it’s okay not to be okay.”
momentarily forgotten our utter poverty before the Father and our kinship with those we so easily condemned?
“Jesus Christ is crazy about you. He loves
you just as you are, not as you should be.”
All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If He wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices.
But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that.
Christ loves us, by the best means, friendship.
the toll alcohol has taken on my mind.
The medical name for it is
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome;
It has to do with a thiamine deficiency brought about by poor...
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In a very real sense, discernment is a process of finding the “best fit.”
if I’ve learned anything about the world of grace, it’s that failure is always a chance for a do-over.
If we really believe the gospel we proclaim, we’ll be honest about our own beauty and brokenness, and the beautiful broken One will make himself known to our neighbors through the chinks in our armor—and in theirs.2
I am, and have always been, more than the sum of my deeds. Thank God.
God strips away those falsehoods because it is better to live naked in truth than clothed in fantasy.
God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.
vulgar grace.
My life is a witness to vulgar grace—a grace that amazes as it offends.
A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party no ifs, ands, or buts.
This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana
peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough. He is enough. Jesus is enough.
“What is the telltale sign of a trusting heart?”
A trusting heart is forgiven and, in turn, forgives.
