Liberty

Flowers in the church 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Of all varieties of virtue,

liberty is the most beloved.

Aristotle

Letting Go

Wall Mural 1a, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


We hold on so tightly that
our hands are unavailable to reach out
for the happiness we could gain by letting go.

M. J. Ryan

I am a Sun.

Fly & Dance 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     You may think
     I am a shadow,
     But inside
     I am a sun.

        Damia Gates, Grade 4
        Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon, eds., Prayers for a Thousand Years

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

Place

Blue & Yellow, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     A place will express itself through the human being
     just as it does through its wild flowers.

        Lawrence Durrell

Blessing

RIC_9434-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Be bold in doing justice,

be generous in loving tenderly and

be prayerful in walking humbly with God

Ted Dodd,

Courage to Love: Liturgies for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community,

compiled by Geoffrey Duncan

Opening Yourself

Camp Fire, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


      Absence disembodies
     so does Death
     hiding individuals from the Earth.

        Emily Dickinson

Heart beat

RIC_0688-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


A single beat from the heart of a lover
is capable of driving out a hundred sorrows.

Naquib Mahfouz

Beginning in Possibility

Clouds87, Cedar Point, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     In the beginning was the dream. In the eternal night where
     no dawn broke, the dream deepened. Everything had its beginning
     in possibility.

        John O'Donohue, Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections On Our Yearning to Belong

Real Journey in Life

By the Light House 7, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Our real journey in life is interior;
it is a matter of growth, deepening,
and of an ever greater surrender
to the creative action of love
and grace in our hearts.

Thomas Merton, The Asian Journal

Be Still

Cedar Point, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     In the rush and noise of life,
     as you have intervals,
     step within yourself and be still.

        William Penn

Shelter

KRUMEN 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.

Irish Proverb

Pilgrimage

Raga Concert 10, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The most profound pilgrimages are made by those
     with homes which they have voluntarily left and to
     which they can return. 

        Bonnie Thurston

Challenge

Burnt Tree, Christian Island 3, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The challenge is to take life as it really is.

Marian Lovene Griffey, Chasseurcistic

See the history of the Other

Table for two, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Unless you actually saw the history of the other,
     no matter what your perspective is, you couldn't
     really understand where we are (and) how we got
     here.

        Sandy Tolan, author of The Lemon Tree

Sanctuary

RIC_8136-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


May you never
feel alone or
lose sight of the
sacred seasons of your soul.

Paula Timpson, Let Your Soul Create a Sanctuary

Transformation

HVUC 14, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The great metaphors from all spiritual traditions – 
     grace, liberation, being born again, awakening from
     illusion – testify that it is possible to transcend the
     conditioning of my past and do a new thing. 

        Sam Keen

Genuine Presence

"Nella Fantasia 3," reproduction of the original Chiapas Mural, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite
their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster. 

James Baldwin

Spiritual Maturity

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

Spiritual maturity is an acceptance of life

in relationship.

Jack Kornfield

Wonder

Sky's the limit., a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


To pray is to take notice of wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all our attainments.

Abraham Joshua Heschel