There is something incredibly about finding out that you've shared a thought with another person. I've experienced this in moments shared with close friends when you can look at each other know that you're laughing at the same thing that nobody else gets. I've also experienced this in words beautifully written. Over the past year(ish) I've been collecting quotes. Some of these quotes stuck out to me because the author was able to write an exact thought I had... or at least the eloquent version of that thought. Other quotes are summarized versions of what a I've learned from a book or random blog. Anyway, I came across a quote today and thought, hey, I should add this to my list... and while I'm at it I should share some of these quotes with some friends. So here is a small collection of random and hopefully thought-provoking quotes that mean or have meant something to me.
"What we need is a relentless appetite for the divine. We need a holy ravenousness. Our craving souls can turn and become enthralled by a goodness that is found in the presence of an all-glorious God. There is only one infinite source of satisfaction that can satisfy our bottomless cravings... every finite pleasure and satisfaction is meant to point us toward the infinite pleasure and satisfaction of God. My admiration for a sunset, then, need not stop at that horizon, rather it can curve upward into praise and gratitude.... we need to taste daily, deeply and constantly of the goodness of God. So let us turn together, and feast rightly." - Jason Todd
“The Bible is basically a story about God. When we turn to the Bible as a self-help book, we end up bored or frustrated with what seems to be a rambling collection of stories. What if the Bible is more about God than it is about us? How thrilling to discover that every element of scripture—the reports of events, the verses of distilled wisdom, the lyrical prophecies—converge in one central saga of one worthy person.” - Steven C. Hawthorne
My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?” - C.S. Lewis
"No one wants to be the person who is made fun of for caring too much about something, who treats in earnest a situation that everyone else considers absurd. Even in personal relationships, feeling too heavily invested while simultaneously understanding that the other person couldn’t be more detached is one of the most profound feelings of embarrassment we can experience. Because it isn’t simply the embarrassment of making a mistake or a poor choice, it’s a shame over the kind of human being you are and how you see the world around you. To be shamed for your sincerity is to be reminded that you are dependent on something which is not dependent on you — that you are, once again, vulnerable."
- Chelsea Fagan
“Let someone love you just the way you are – as flawed as you might be, as unattractive as you sometimes feel, and as unaccomplished as you think you are. To believe that you must hide all the parts of you that are broken, out of fear that someone else is incapable of loving what is less than perfect, is to believe that sunlight is incapable of entering a broken window and illuminating a dark room.” - Marc Hack
“
Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness.” - Janet Fitch
"Hiking - I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, “A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them." - Unknown
"Do not ever, ever, ever think of asking people what you’re not already trying to do yourself. You can blog and preach and soapbox about whatever you want, but legit historical figures actually rolled up their sleeves and lived it out and let their life do the talking for them. It doesn’t matter how sloppy you pursue it: just do something. We don’t need another basement blogger or pretentious preacher. We need game-changers. Words about love sound pretty; actually loving people is messy. Be part of the mess."
- J.S. Park
"To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends; I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been us, Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so much judgement to give, but so littel foregiveness to show. Christians carrying grudges on their backs, rather than the cross of salvation. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity... Forgive me, forgive us."-Shane Claiborne
"Any woman who shaves to please you and asks you not to shave to please her is a keeper, straight up. Marry her, have beard loving children, and make the world a better place." - The Love of Beard
"It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you."- F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Ugly is irrelevant. It is an immeasurable insult to a woman, and then supposedly the worst crime you can commit as a woman. But ugly, as beautiful, is an illusion. A matter of taste, a whim, an eye, a beholder, an opinion, a spin, light crossing the frame, paint, projection. The moment. Context."
- Margaret Cho
"You stand by the sea coast, you stand by the edge of the grand canyon, you stand with your eye to a telescope, you stand there and you find your soul drawn OUT of yourself and for a brief moment you are free from self-consciousness and self-absorption and it is the most fully satisfying deep wonderful moment"- John Piper
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