“The life that is on a solid foundation is not just one that understands doctrine accurately, but is one that is joined to the Word Himself. It is not just knowing the Book of the Lord, but knowing the Lord of the Book.” ― Rick Joyner
Life is an opportunity. If you surrender to that part of mind which can only see what is outside and try to squeeze oil out of sand you lose the opportunity. If you invoke through prayer and meditation the other part which can, like a tortoise, move inward and feel the divine presence and realise the one and only purpose of this opportunity, you are free, fearless and fulfilled. You have arrived Home!
Hari Om Tat Sat!
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
"Do your little bit of good where you are; it is those little bits of good put all together that overwhelm the world."-- Desmond Tutu
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” - Rick Warren-
“The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.” -Phillips Brooks-
“They say a good love is one that sits you down, gives you a drink of water, and pats you on top of the head. But I say a good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies and ignite the night like a phoenix; the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire and you can’t stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch! I say that’s a good love; one that burns and flies, and you run with it!” -― C. JoyBell C.
“The one thing that the Bible emphasizes more than us loving God and people is that God loves us. He loves us first and most. God isn’t in heaven plucking a daisy saying, “I love you” when you obey and “I love you not” when you sin.” --Brian Mavis-
“Some people could be given an entire field of roses and only see the thorns in it. Others could be given a single weed and only see the wildflower in it. Perception is a key component to gratitude. And gratitude is a key component to joy.”-- Amy Weatherly
From St. Patrick’s Breastplate
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
“God has mercy on us. He says ‘yes’ to us, he wills to be on our side, to be our God against all odds. Indeed against all odds, because we do not deserve this mercy, because, as we rightly suppose, he should say ‘no’ to us all. But he does not say ‘no’; he says ‘yes’. He is not against us; he is for us. This is God’s mercy.” -Karl Barth-
“May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam. May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures. May all life’s passing seasons bring the best to you and yours!”-- Irish Blessing
A diplomat must always think twice before he says nothing. Irish proverb
Let me quote a bit. No disrespect met, to any Roman Catholics here:
Finally , I would be remiss not to notice the challenge Saint Patrick presents to our Protestant friends who are so interested in the early church fathers and the lives of the pre-schism saints. This interest is also based on the fact that these saints did not embrace Rome’s later innovations like forbidding priests to marry, Mary’s immaculate conception or her being co-redemptrix for our salvation, papal supremacy over all bishops, and papal infallibility.
The present brings negative situations and positive possibilities. The wise pick the positive and make the best use of the time at hand with a sense of humor, creating a brighter future. Others pick the negative and create a mess around it!
What is your choice? What gift do you have for you for today?
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
“You are the CEO of your life. Hire, fire, and promote accordingly.”-- Author Unknown
“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” -Karl Barth-
“What happened on that day (of Easter) became, was and remained the centre around which everything else moves. For everything lasts its time, but the love of God - which was at work and was expressed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead - lasts forever. Because this event took place, there is no reason to despair, and even when we read the newspaper with all its confusing and frightening news, there is every reason to hope.” -Karl Barth-
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”-- Walter Elliot
Religious prayers are full of demands, kind of give and take. But as you evolve and peel the external layers of religions you can go to the core where it is no longer mere rituals but love and harmony. Your prayer now turns into acceptance and continual song of gratitude, gratitude and gratitude. Your mind is soaked in love for all, happiness from inside and celebration everyday, everywhere.
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
“Remember my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker.”-- Abraham Stoker
“The measure of a Christian is not in the height of his grasp but in the depth of his love” - Clarence Jordan-
“God is not a celestial prison warden jangling the keys on a bunch of lifers–he’s a shepherd seeking for sheep, a woman searching for coins, a father waiting for his son.” -Clarence Jordan-
“Man can certainly flee from God… but he cannot escape him. He can certainly hate God and be hateful to God, but he cannot change into its opposite the eternal love of God which triumphs even in his hate.” -Karl Barth-
“The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. And just so does our God to us. He stirs up our comfortable nests, and pushes us over the edge of them, and we are forced to use our wings to save ourselves from fatal falling. Read your trials in this light, and see if you cannot begin to get a glimpse of their meaning. Your wings are being developed.” -Hannah Whitall Smith-
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”-- Coco Chanel
“All will be redeemed in God’s fullness of time, all, not just the small portion of the population who have been given the grace to know and accept Christ. All the strayed and stolen sheep. All the little lost ones.” -Madeleine L’Engle-
“If we really believe in one God and in Jesus Christ, in what He was and what He did, truly shows us what God’s character and His attitude toward men are like, then it is very difficult to think ourselves out of a belief that somehow His love will find a way of bringing all men into unity with Him.” -C.H. Dodd-
"The notion of the popular creed, (i.e. that God is in the Bible detailing the story of His own defeat, how sin has proved too strong for Him), seems wholly unfounded. Assuredly the Bible is not the story of sin, deepening into eternal ruin, of God’s Son, worsted in His utmost effort. It is from the opening to the close the story of grace stronger than sin – of life victorious over every form of death – of God triumphant over evil. -Thomas Allin (Christ Triumphant)-
Love is what God is, love is why Jesus came, and love is why he continues to come, year after year to person after person…May you experience this vast, expansive, infinite, indestructible love that has been yours all along. May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about, and may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins. -Rob Bell-
“You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things.”-- Nate Berkus
. Rely on yourself for your well-being as far as possible. Don’t look to others. You have no right to happiness and others have no obligation to provide it for you. Your right is to the pursuit of happiness. Learn to cultivate the soil of solitude. Happy solitude is the sole beatitude. O beata solitudo, sola beatitudo. An exaggeration to be sure, but justifed by the truth it contains. In the end, the individual is responsible for his happiness. - BV
“The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar full of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred proof Grace–bottle after bottle of pure distilate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the Gospel–after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps–suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started…Grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, not the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case.” - Robert Farrar Capon-
“Grace is the celebration of life, relentlessly hounding all the non-celebrants in the world. It is a floating, cosmic bash shouting its way through the streets of the universe, flinging the sweetness of its cessations to every window, pounding at every door in a hilarity beyond all liking and happening, until the prodigals come out at last and dance, and the elder brothers finally take their fingers out of their ears.” - Robert Farrar Capon-