“It’s important to remember that almost everything we receive along the Christian road—   freedom—comes by degree. We don’t get it, we grow into it—like lava layers become ocean islands or infant limbs become sprinting legs. Freedom flourishes inside us as each of our root desires are reordered and reformed and redirected toward love”(jonathan@ jonathanrbailey.com).

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“Lying to God is like sawing the branch you’re sitting on. The better you do it, the sooner you fall” (Frederick Buechner).

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“The ‘self-denial’ many Christians practice is born of fear—fear of God’s punishment and others’ rejection. It’s the kind that denies our worth and belovedness, thinking we’re doing God a favor. The fruit is self-pity, resentment, and depression. 

“But the self-denial of which Jesus spoke is borne of love—love of God, love of others, and love, in the healthiest sense, of self. It is saying no to needing our own way (now!) to saying yes to God’s way and the interests of others. The fruit is life and peace” (Brian Morykon, Renovare Weekly Digest for February 3 – 7).

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“Darkness deserves gratitude.  It is the alleluia point at which we learn to understand that all growth does not take place in the sunlight” (Joan Chittister).

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“But when the Bible is read through the eyes of solidarity—what we call the “preferential option for the poor” or the “bias from the margins”—it will always be liberating, transformative, and empowering in a completely different way. Read this way, Scripture cannot be used by those with power to oppress or impress. The question is no longer “How can I maintain my special and secure status?” It is “How can we all grow and change together?” I think the acceptance of that invitation to solidarity with the larger pain of the world is what it means to be a “Christian” (Richard Rohr, Daily Meditations, May 24, 2020).

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“Service doesn’t start when we have something to give – it blossoms naturall when we have nothing left to take” (Nipun Mehta).

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“When somebody you’ve wronged forgives you, you’re spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience. When you forgive somebody who has wronged you, you’re spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride.For both parties, forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside their own skins and to be glad in each other’s presence” (Frederick Beuchner in Wishful  Thinking).