The constant gracious listener

"God is the constant gracious listener to our every thought,

and prayer begins when we bring what we most naturally think about before God."

~John Ortberg

Delicious autumn!

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

~Mary Ann Evans (Georg Eliot)

Wisp of smoke

Last sunflowers of 2015

"A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it,
and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke."
~Vincent van Gogh, 1880

The uglier, older, iller, poorer I get

"The uglier, older, meaner, iller, poorer I get,

the more I wish to take my revenge by doing brilliant color, well arranged, resplendent."

~Vincent van Gogh

My portion forever

"My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
~Psalm 73:26

Boats up on shore

"So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him."
~Luke 5:11

Expect holiness

"It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels,

but because they do not expect holiness from one another,

but from God only."

~William Blake

Some things

"Some things just have to be believed to be seen."
~Philip Yancey

Dragons can be beaten

"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist,
but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

~G.K. Chesterton

To feel that there is a God, a living One

"To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God, not a dead one, or a stuffed one,

but a living One."

~Vincent van Gogh, 1881

The whole of our life-story

Drying sunflowers in evening sunbeams

"Job does not say in the end, 'Now I see it all.' He never sees it all. He sees God (Job 42:5). 

Perhaps it is better if God never tells any of us the whole of our life-story."

~Timothy Keller

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering

Nothing to lose

"The ragamuffin gospel says we can't lose, because we have nothing to lose."
~Brennan Manning

He waited

"Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross;

He waited until one of them turned to Him." 

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Letters and Papers from Prison

Simplicity is an intellectual achievement

"Simplicity is an intellectual achievement, one of the greatest."
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters Papers from Prison