Gossip is a dark way to gain a sense of control by crushing another’s reputation with words. . . . Gossip repeatedly shows up in Scripture’s lists of heinous sins (with adultery, murder, and theft) because it kills the heart of another human being.” (Sharon Hersh, in Brave Hearts)
Words have power. We must set out to harness that power with a clear awareness that words can both tear down and build up. They are much like a sharp knife that in the hands of a surgeon can heal, but in the hands of a careless child can kill. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21) (Larry Crabb, in Encouragement: The Key To Caring)
Not all conflict is bad! Since God has created us as unique individuals, human beings will often have different opinions, convictions, desires, perspectives, and priorities. Many of these difference are not inherently right or wrong; they are simply the result of god-given diversity and personal preferences. When handled properly, disagreements in these areas can stimulated productive dialogue, encourage creativity, promote helpful change, and generally make life more interesting. Therefore, although we should seek unity in our relationships, we should not demand uniformity. (Ken Sande, in The Peacemaker)
Beauty calls us to attention. It slows us down. This, in itself is the beginning of contemplation. It is difficult to hurry through beauty. If you are in a hurry, you probably won’t stop to be present to “the beautiful.” Beauty has the ability to heal life’s wounds. It can make us receptive to grace. (Macrina Wiederkehr)
We do not want merely to see beauty, though, god knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bath in it, to become part of it. (C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory)
Beauty deserves to be on the agenda for any faith community wrestling with the big spiritual issues of our time. (Karen Lee-Thorp, in Why Beauty Matters)
Parents, if you love your children, do all that lies in your power to train them up to a habit of prayer. Show them how to begin. Tell them what to say. Encourage them to persevere. Remind them if they become careless and slack about it. Let it not be your fault, at any rate, if they never call on the name of the Lord. (John Ryle, in The Duties of Parents)
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. . . . No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. . . . But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. . . . nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. (C. H. Spurgeon, quoted by J.I. Packer in Knowing God)
Few women realize what great service they are doing for mankind and for the kingdom of christ when tye provide a shelter for the family and good mothering—the foundation on which all else is built. A mother builds something for more magnificent than any cathedral—the dwelling place for an immortal soul. (Dorothy Patterson, in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)
Abuse is defined as any behavior that is designed to control and subjugate another human being through the use of fear; humiliation, and verbal or physical assaults. In other words, you don’t have to be hit to be abused . . . what difference does it make whether the weapon is his fist or his words? The result is the same. You are just as scared, you feel just as helpless, and you are in just as much pain. (Susan Forward, in Men Who Hate Women and the Women who Love Them)
Confusion over the meaning of sexual personhood today is epidemic. The consequence of this confusion is not a free and happy harmony among gender-free persons relating on the basis of abstract competencies. The consequence rather is more divorce, more homosexuality, more sexual abuse, more promiscuity, more social awkwardness, and more emotional distress and suicide that come with the loss of god-given identity. (John Piper)
It is not hard, you find, to trust the management of the universe, and of all the outward creation, to the Lord. Can your case then be so much more complex and difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of you? (Hannah Whitall Smith, in The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life)
We should pray when we are in a praying mood, for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity. We should pray when we are not in a proper mood, for it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition. (Charles H. Spurgeon)
