Why I write

Shadow 1 (2013, 6.18), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     I write because I seek to re-order all that comes 
     to me through my physical senses, my emotions, 
     my spirit, my intuition, onto a page so that I 
     might learn to experience it with integrity, 
     respect and honour.

        Richard Wagamese

Seeing

Hands (2013, 6.23), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Blessed are they who see beautiful things 
in humble places where other people see nothing. 

Camille Pissarro

Change

Shadow 2 (2013, 6.18), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

I can be changed by what happens to me.

But I refuse to be reduced by it. 

Maya Angelou

Children

Jacqueline Treloar's art displayed at Kingston Road United Church 9, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Children aren't colouring books.

You don't get to fill them with your colours.

Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Learning to See

Light 1 (2013, 5.29), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Learning to see means at first bearing witness to what we are 
and where we are, right now, at this very moment.

Laura Dunn and David Ulrich

Suffering & Happiness

RIC_4682-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The truth is: my suffering doesn't have to be 
     out of view for you to be happy, and you don't have 
     to quiet your grief for me to be peaceful.
     Allowing our suffering and happiness to touch each 
     other opens a depth of compassion that helps us 
     to complete each other. 

        Mark Nepo, 
        Hearing the Cries of the World, Parabola (Summer 2013)

Kingdom of God

Baptism Font (2013, 2.24), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We do not go to the Kingdom of God, 

but the kingdom of God comes to us.

Thich Nhat Hanh, 

Living Buddha, Living Christ

Resemblance

Good Friday 2013, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


My confidence comes from the belief that all human beings
resemble each other, that others carry wounds like mine – that 
they will therefore understand. 

Orhan Pamuk, My Father's Suitcase

Limits

KRUC Cross 2 (2013, 3.4), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion. 

Michael Jordan

Broken Open

Light (2013, 2.14), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

God breaks the heart again and again and

again until it stays open. 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Clarity

Jacqueline Treloar 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Don’t confuse honours with achievement.

Zadie Smith

Joy

Baptismal Font 11, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

For the raindrop,

joy is entering the river.

Ghalib

Knowledge

Flower Pot, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Knowledge that takes you not beyond yourself

is far worse than ignorance.

Arabic Proverb

Unsayable

Kingston Road United Church 1 (2013, 2.25), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

This has always been the driving mystery

of all sacred wisdom:

The only thing worth saying are

those things that are unsayable.

Mark Nepo,

The Book of Awakening

Helping

Second Automatic Door at KRU, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Helping other people can be a cure not just for
     those who are in need but for your soul as well.

        Marinela Reka

Life

Blue Christmas at KRU 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Life has a practice of living you,
     if you don't live it.

        Philip Larkin

Generosity

Blue Christmas at KRU 5, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Don't live through life,

give through life.

Michael Powell,

A Thousand Paths to Generosity

Decisions

View 1a, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Between two words
     choose the quieter one.

        Boris Novak, Decisions (tr. Dintinjana)

Place in Time

Autumn leaves (10.24, '12), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


On the same spot I sit today
Others came, in ages past to sit.
One thousand years, still others will come.
Who is the singer, and who is the listener?

Nguyen Cong Tru

Spiritual Maturity

Sunday School, KRUC, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Spiritual maturity is an acceptance of life

in relationship.

Jack Kornfield