Quotes About Nearness

For this reason, strangers are not really conceived as individuals, but as strangers of a particular type: the element of distance is no less general in regard to them than the element of nearness.

Near a war is always not very near.

The familiar was far away, while the bizarre was close at hand.

Man goes far away or near but God never goes far-off; he is always standing close at hand, and even if he cannot stay within he goes no further than the door.

However softly we speak, God is near enough to hear us.

St. Louis is closer to Minneapolis than Milwaukee is.

God is not only the most high, he is also the all-near as well. Teresa's discovery of the presence of God within every soul came in the light of a contemplative grace.

No se turbe, pues, ni tema tu corazón. Cree en Mí, y ten confianza en mi misericordia. Cuando piensas que estás lejos de Mí, estoy más cerca de ti regularmente. C1uando piensas que está todo casi perdido, entonces muchas veces está cerca la ganancia del merecer. No está todo perdido cuando alguna cosa te sucede contraria. No debes juzgar como sientes ahora, ni embarazarte ni acongojarte con cualquier contrariedad que te venga, como si no hubiese esperanza de remedio.

First, I say that he draws near to those who make peace with him. For God is the One who brings about peace; and where else should peace dwell than in peace?

The nearer any soul draws to God, the more humble will that soul lie before God...the most holy men have always been the most humble men...If the work be good, though never so low, humility will put a hand to it; so will not pride.

It is not merely the likeness which is precious . . . but the association and sense of nearness involved in the thing . . . the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever!   —ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

How strange is this combination of proximity and separation. That ground—seconds away—thousands of miles away.

It's a situation doomed enough to laugh at, but he thinks of what he used to tell his students. Imagine being a planet. Don't laugh, he'd tell them. Try to imagine it. Eons of loneliness, and then one day your ellipsis peaks toward that of another planet and there is a gasp of nearness. Wouldn't you try to make the most of it? Wouldn't you, too, combust and flare and explode if you had to?

The Spirit' assures us that God is not distant and that he is not in reality an extra-mundane being who sits enthroned in exalted eminence, and who from this eminence possibly sends a few messages down to the world; but, on the contrary, that God is near to us and that he is immediately and effectively active in our life.

God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself within the circle of his knowing of himself.

Perfect happiness I believe was never intended by the deity to be the lot of any one of his creatures in this world; but that he has very much put in our power the nearness of our approaches to it, is what I as stedfastly believe.

O my soul! Nothing comes between you and God but the atoning blood of Jesus. His blood annihilates all your sin and guilt. Robed in His imputed righteousness, you are to God nearer than the highest angel in heaven--and nearer you can not be--and God draws near to you and speaks--A God at hand, says the Lord.

Verily He answereth him who prayeth unto Him, and is near unto him who calleth on Him.

God is not distant: he is 'Emmanuel,' God-with-us. He is no stranger: he has a face, the face of Jesus.

He is near, with, and in you. This means there is hope for you, even in relationships that leave you confused and disappointed.

You have taken me and quieted me. You have been such light to me that others have been your shadows. You come near me with the nearness of sleep. --Marriage, Wendell Berry

Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.

When misery is the greatest, God is the closest,

What we notice in stories is the nearness of the wound to the gift.