Quotes about Reflection

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The decisions you make determine the schedule you keep. The schedule you keep determines the life you live. And how you live your life determines how you spend your soul.

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

The Best Yes is what we're after. Best Yes answers are much more likely to happen when we are in the habit of seeking wisdom. We have to put our hearts and our minds in places where wisdom gathers, not scatters.

Rather than dwelling on wounds that leave us feeling emotionally empty, we can learn to look for whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy in life (Philippians 4: 8). When I park my mind and heart on thoughts that refresh me instead of ones that depress me, I am filled. Like the psalmist reminds us, "Taste and see that the LORD is good" (Psalm 34: 8).

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

And who understands? Not me, because if I did I would forgive it all.

And to 'scape stormy days, I choose an everlasting night.

One question such events provoke is "What kind of God allows this to happen?" Another question we might ask is, "What kind of creatures are human beings that we should cause and allow this to happen?

Henri Nouwen once asked Mother Teresa for spiritual direction. Spend one hour each day in adoration of your Lord, she said, and never do anything you know is wrong. Follow this and you'll be fine.

Sometimes the idea of living as a hermit appeals to all of us. No demands, no needs, no pain, no disappointments. But that is because we have been hurt, are worn out.

Wouldn't it help you to realize that you really do live in an epic if your life had a soundtrack?