“The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons with God himself at the very heart of this community as its prime Sustainer and most glorious Inhabitant.”
on the death of a friend If death my friend and me divide, Thou dost not, Lord, my sorrow chide, Or frown my tears to see; Restrained from passionate excess, Thou bidst me mourn in calm distress For them that rest in Thee.I feel a strong immortal hope, Which bears my mournful spirit up Beneath its mountain load; Redeemed from death, and grief, and pain, I soon shall find my friend again Within the arms of God.Pass a few fleeting moments more And death the blessing shall restore Which death has snatched away; For me thou wilt the summons send, And give me back my parted friend In that eternal day.

on the death of a friend

If death my friend and me divide,
Thou dost not, Lord, my sorrow chide,
Or frown my tears to see;
Restrained from passionate excess,
Thou bidst me mourn in calm distress
For them that rest in Thee.I feel a strong immortal hope,
Which bears my mournful spirit up
Beneath its mountain load;
Redeemed from death, and grief, and pain,
I soon shall find my friend again
Within the arms of God.Pass a few fleeting moments more
And death the blessing shall restore
Which death has snatched away;
For me thou wilt the summons send,
And give me back my parted friend
In that eternal day.

John Green's tumblr: The Commencement Address →
“Dallas also used to say that “God will certainly let everyone into heaven that can possibly stand it.” This is another one of those statements that becomes more daunting and frightening and wonderful the more you think about it.”
“Among countless other ideas, Dallas thought about the nature of heaven in ways that linger. Our destiny, he used to say, is to be part of a tremendously creative team effort, under unimaginably splendid leadership, on an inconceivably vast plane of activity, with ever more comprehensive cycles of productivity and enjoyment. This is what “eye hath not see, nor ear hath heard” in the prophetic vision. Its worth a few dozen read-throughs.”
Excerpt from A Servant to Servants by Robert Frost But I don’t count on it as much as Len. He looks on the bright side of everything, Including me. He thinks I’ll be all right With doctoring. But it’s not medicine— Lowe is the only doctor’s dared to say so— It’s rest I want—there, I have said it out— From cooking meals for hungry hired men And washing dishes after them—from doing Things over and over that just won’t stay done. By good rights I ought not to have so much Put on me, but there seems no other way. Len says one steady pull more ought to do it. He says the best way out is always through. And I agree to that, or in so far As that I can see no way out but through—

Excerpt from A Servant to Servants by Robert Frost

But I don’t count on it as much as Len.
He looks on the bright side of everything,
Including me. He thinks I’ll be all right
With doctoring. But it’s not medicine—
Lowe is the only doctor’s dared to say so—
It’s rest I want—there, I have said it out—
From cooking meals for hungry hired men
And washing dishes after them—from doing
Things over and over that just won’t stay done.
By good rights I ought not to have so much
Put on me, but there seems no other way.
Len says one steady pull more ought to do it.
He says the best way out is always through.
And I agree to that, or in so far
As that I can see no way out but through—

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, no matter how it turns out.”
Prayer :: Abraham Joshua Heschel To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live…. Amidst the meditation of mountains, the humility of flowers wiser than all alphabets—clouds that die constantly for the sake of God’s glory—we are hating, hunting, hurting. Suddenly we feel ashamed of our clashes and complaints in the face of the tacit glory in nature.

Prayer :: Abraham Joshua Heschel

To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live….

Amidst the meditation of mountains, the humility of flowers wiser than all alphabets—clouds that die constantly for the sake of God’s glory—we are hating, hunting, hurting. Suddenly we feel ashamed of our clashes and complaints in the face of the tacit glory in nature.

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, his eyes are closed.”
Wendell Berry on soul the formula given in Genesis 2.7 is not man = body + soul; the formula there is soul = dust + breath. According to this verse, God did not make a body and put a soul into it, like a letter into an envelope. He formed man of dust; then, by breathing His breath into it, he made the dust live. The dust, formed as man and made to live, did not embody a soul; it became a soul. Soul here refers to the whole creature. Humanity is thus presented to us, in Adam, not as a creature of two discrete parts temporarily glued together but as a single mystery. 

Wendell Berry on soul

the formula given in Genesis 2.7 is not man = body + soul; the formula there is soul = dust + breath. According to this verse, God did not make a body and put a soul into it, like a letter into an envelope. He formed man of dust; then, by breathing His breath into it, he made the dust live. The dust, formed as man and made to live, did not embody a soul; it became a soul. Soul here refers to the whole creature. Humanity is thus presented to us, in Adam, not as a creature of two discrete parts temporarily glued together but as a single mystery. 

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