Quotes About Spirituality

All I ever wanted in my life was to be treated as an individual. I have succeeded, to some extent. At least I'm sure that in the Lord's eyes, I am an individual. I am not a "colored" person, or a "Negro" person, in God's eyes. I am just me! The Lord won't hold it against me that I'm colored because He made me that way! He thinks I am beautiful! And so do I, even with all my wrinkles! I am beautiful! -Bessie

Get rid of imagined guilt. You did the best you could at the time, all things considered. If you made mistakes, learn to accept that we are all imperfect. Only hindsight is 20-20. If you are convinced that you have real guilt, consider professional or spiritual counseling (with a competent and trustworthy counselor). If you believe in God a pastor can help you believe also in God's forgiveness.

When Jesus told His followers, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3), He was pointing toward the vulnerability and openness that are essential for those of us who aren't children to inherit the kingdom of God. This identification with children was important to Fred.

I think that Fred felt that loved ones in heaven do help those they left behind. He once told me, 'I think of my mother and my dad, and they're both in heaven and have been for a long time, and I know that they still love me and they help me. I have friends who are in heaven, and I know that they inspire me to do all kinds of things in this life.

And that one part can make an enormous difference in the lives of others, especially when we commit to a life of spiritual wholeness that's represented by looking inward with our hearts (inner disciplines affect how we see others); looking outward with our eyes (how we see others affects how we treat others); and finally, by using what we've learned practically, with our hands.

To make others feel more human, Fred sought to see their Maker in them and then to treat them accordingly.

Fred Rogers' spiritual answer to how we "treat bad people" is much more far-reaching than the psychology behind sublimation

He once asked me, "You know how when you find somebody who you know is in touch with the truth, how you want to be in the presence of that person?

Prayer is not only a daily discipline that deepens our relationship with God; it also provides a way for us to be together in our aloneness.

Acclaimed writer and thinker Madeleine L'Engle once noted, in her treatise on the spiritual rhythms of life, The Irrational Season, "Righteousness begins to reveal itself as that strength which is so secure that it can show itself as gentleness, and the only people who have this kind of righteousness are those who are integrated and do not suppress the dark side of themselves.

Prayer is not only a daily discipline that deepens our relationship with God; it also provides a way for us to be together in our aloneness. Amen.

the essence of prayer is relationship

An old supply pastor, many years before, had taught him that: What is offered in faith by one person can be translated by the Holy Spirit into what the other person needs to hear and see. The space between them is holy ground, and the Holy Spirit uses that space in ways that not only translate, but transcend.

Know this: You should judge every person by his merits. Even someone who seems completely wicked, you must search and find that little speck of good, for in that place, he is not wicked. By this you will raise him up, and help him return to God. And you must also do this for yourself, finding your own good points, one after the other, and raising yourself up. This is how melodies are made, note after note. REBBE NACHMAN OF BRESLOV

every vertebrae on his back was a prayer bead under my hands.

Whatcha doing, Lieu?" she asked cautiously. "Praying," he muttered. "I suck at it." "Your doing it wrong," she said flatly. "I'm not big on church, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to do it with a friend.

See, that's what God's voice was to me. When I was a kid, I thought God's voice was the church bells,

Galen's sweet Benedictine smile illuminated his face in that mix of glory and dirt, and John had to swallow hard or he would have just cried at beauty like a kid in church.

Without the weight of the world on his shoulders, Cal made love like the Native American god of sex, whomever that may be.

I don't care if it's a mosque, a monastery, or a motherfucking cathedral. The next time that man wants to take you to a holy place and thank a higher power for you, go with him. And thank God personally, from me, that you have somebody who loves you like you deserve.

How resilient did someone have to be to have gone through all of that and still have a laugh that rang through the trees like bells, making them holy?

On the other hand, touching Seth's body was like the holiest part of church that no priest ever talked about. Making him shiver and make his noises and gasp and moan and come?

And I realized that it's not whether you beat God—it's what you have when the fight's over.

He could play for a million people who would all walk away thinking, 'That's the sound of God crying,' and it would make their hearts better." He didn't realize he was so close to crying until his voice cracked.