I seriously love this quote

17 gallons of tears(by a fellow etsy seller)
My absolute most favouritest current quote, of which I could read 50 times and yet not tire of, is found below. At a time when "authenticity" is a popular spiritual fashion accessory, I crave to see it's existence proved through unabashed honest communication.

"You don't have to be around the church long to learn that where there is unity God blesses, and that where there is discord, He doesn't. Unity is the prelude and primary condition for power in prayer (Matt. 18:19). Unity always exist in the Spirit in the body, no matter how we fuss and fight, but unity must travel from spirit to soul to heart and mind and action before it bears fruit among men.

However, the quest for unity need not prevent discussion, difference of opinion, or even sharp disagreement. It is one thing to agree so deeply in heart and soul and spirit that we can violently disagree in mind, without disturbing unity or breaking the agreement which profits prayer. It is another to so let disagreements enlist angers and party spirit that inner energies are drafted to unconscious battles and conscious debates. Paul and Peter battled heavily (Gal. 1-2) and yet the Father worked stupendous miracles in and through both of them, and wherever they went the church prospered! Men fought Paul everywhere. Most of the letters of the New Testament are written about quarrels or are themselves involved in settling some dispute. Yet the early church was filled with power. We can fuss at each other strenuously without disturbing true unity. We must not so make an idol of unity that we drive necessary irritations of communication underground and so provide lip service to unity while we are inwardly frustrated into hating. The restoration of unity also means the restoration of honest communication. Anger, jealousy, spite, envy and the like tear the fabric of unity, not honest communication. If men's hearts are knit as one, the mental exercise of debate serves only to heighten respect and increases banter and fun. We need not fear to fuss and fight, as long as we immediately forgive and laughingly embrace. Unity moves from spirit to soul and heart by the route of openness, not tight-mouthed silence."

~ John Sanford, "The Elijah Task"

it is finished

"twouble with twitters"

positioned to love

bomobob(a fellow etsy seller)

"You and I cannot demonstrate love or joy or peace or patience or kindness sitting all by ourselves on an island. No, we demonstrate it when the people we have committed to loving give us good reasons not to love them, but we do it anyway."

~ Mark Dever, "What Is A Healthy Church"

He goes on to suggest that if your goal is to love all Christians, then commit yourself to a concrete group of Christians (church) with all their failures and weaknesses. Stick with them through thick and thin for 80 years and then evaluate how successful you were at loving all Christians.

Sounds like marriage, but then I think that's how it should be viewed.

silence

michelle stone(by a fellow etsy seller)
A favourite local blogger (who also shares my name!) posted something over at her Redemption Junkie blog that really struck me. It speaks to me because over the past year I have come to adore silence when I'm alone. I find these words illuminating.

Unfortunately, in seeing ourselves as we truly are, not all that we see is beautiful and attractive. This is undoubtedly part of the reason we flee silence. We do not want to be confronted with our hypocrisy, our phoniness. We see how false and fragile is the false self we project. We have to go through this painful experience to come to our true self. It is a harrowing journey, a death to self—the false self—and no one wants to die. But it is the only path to life, to freedom, to peace, to true love. And it begins with silence. We cannot give ourselves in love if we do not know and possess ourselves. This is the great value of silence. It is the pathway to all we truly want.

--M. Basil Pennington