Amazing Quotes I Just Had to Share!!

Ruskin urges us to the “Duty to Delight.” It was an admonition to be watchful for the hilarious and the heartwarming, the silly and the sublime.  This way will not pass again and so there is a duty to be mindful of that which delights and keeps joy at the center, distilled from all that happens to us in a day.

We bask in God’s unalloyed joy, and we let loose with the same joy in whoever is in front of us.  Then we exhale, (for the breath has to go somewhere) – to breathe into the world this same spirit of delight, confident that this is God’s only agenda.

I suppose Jesus walks into a room and loves what He finds there.  Delights in it, in fact.  Maybe, He makes a beeline to the outcast and chooses, in them, to go where love has not yet arrived.  His ways aren’t our ways, but they sure could be.

Leon Dufour, a Jesuit theologian said, ” … in the end, God is the person you’re talking to, the one right in front of you.”  Keep focused in delight on the person in front of you.  (This reminds me of what Heidi Baker, missionary to Mozambique, always says, “Stop for the One.  Love the One in front of you.”

Sr. Elaine Roulette, founder of My Mother’s House in New York, was asked, “How to you work with the poor?”  She answered, “You don’t.  You share your life with the poor.”  It’s as basic as crying together.  It’s about ‘casting your lot’ before it ever becomes about ‘changing your lot.’

Mark Torres, with Homeboy Industries, says,”We see in the homies what they don’t see in themselves, until they do.”  You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable:  kinship….. Kinship is not serving the other, but being one with the other.  Jesus was not ‘a man for others.’ He was one with them.  There is a world of difference in that.

Kinship –> Community –> Circle of Compassion

Well, my friends, I hope you are inspired by these few posts on “Tattos on the Heart.”  The book is filled with wonderful stories, full of humor, pain, love, and compassion.

Blessings to you this week,  May we “Stop for the one!”

Jane

PS. Heidi Baker is one of my heroes, check out her books!  She will encourage you to “Stop for the One!”

Click On Heidi to see her books.

HOPE

Do you ever get frustrated when you are trying to help someone overcome something in their lives or believing in change for someone?

Tielhard de Chardin wrote that we must ‘trust in the slow work of God.’

Who are we not to?  It takes what it takes for the great turnaround. Wait for it.

Gary shares that he was not always good at waiting.  One example concerned Leo, a short, squat, exceedingly likable kid you could not resist wanting to help.  Gary set up many interviews etc. for him and he would just be left hangin’.  One evening he happened to run into Leo after being stood up.  He began to apologize etc. and G responded, “No need to apologize, mijo, you taught me something tonight.”  

Leo was confused, “I did?”

“That’s right.  Tonight you taught me that no amount of my wanting you to have a life is the same as you wanting to have one.  Now, I can help you get a life – I just can’t give you the desire to want one. So, when you want a life, call me.” 

Some months later, Leo did call G.  What turned the lightbulb on?  He was watching TV and saw a commercial about ITT Institute and he wanted to get him one a’ them… careers.

Leo was amazing with animals so G called his vet and Leo got hired right away.  He began with cleaning up the dog poop and cages, then learned to bathe the animals and give shots.  Now Leo is supervisor at an animal shelter.  He got himself “one a’ them careers.” It was worth the wait.

“Sometimes you need to walk in the gang member’s door, in order to introduce him to a brand-new door.  You grab what he finds valuable and bend it around something else, a new form of nobility.  You try to locate his moral code and conform it to a new standard that no longer includes violence and the harboring of enemies.”

“I’ve come to trust the value of simply showing up…. and singing the song without words.  And yet, each time I find myself sitting with the pain that folks carry, I’m overwhelmed with my own inability to do much more than stand in awe, dumbstruck by the sheer size of the burden, more than I’ve ever been asked to carry.”

(I just have to share this story word for word. So powerful!) (Pedro’s brother has just killed himself)

I am having a really good time sharing with you!  Be sure and comment or e-mail me with your feedback! 

Shining for Jesus,

Jane

PS. The first person to comment will receive a FREE copy of “Tattoos on the Heart!”

 Today is my birthday!  I want to share it with YOU!