Posts in "Quotes and Notes"

“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.”
  • Parker Palmer, Quaker educator

I am currently reading: Dominion by Tom Holland 📚

Spent some with this one today. Seeing the influence of Christianity, the good and the bad is so helpful to hold a nuanced understanding of the development of Western Civilization.

Finished reading: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Such a fun read! It was great to see what happened with one of my favorite characters from Stormlight Archives.

Next up: The Strength of the Few, book 2 of the Hierarchy series.

Do you ever bump into a quote that just resonates for you? I bumped into this one by David Foster Wallace today and it did just that today:

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.” - David Foster Wallace

I started reading: Fight Like Jesus by Jason Porterfield 📚

A friend is hosting a weekly discussion of this text. I can’t attend but, I am reading alongside. I think I will share some thoughts throughout Lent from this little book.

Tomorrow at Tap Room we are discussing nationalism, not just the Christian variant. This description of Christian nationalism by Tom Wright hits the nail on the head.

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

  • Frederick Douglass

This work is not about tweaking personalities or winning power struggles. It is about creating the conditions for deep change. And that begins with fostering enough safety for courage to grow. It is about staying present long enough for shame to loosen its grip.