What If It Really Is True?

God, Life, Trials, Trust, Truth 0

But consider this: What if you knew it would all turn out well, whatever you are facing?  What if Romans 8:28 really were more than a cliche?  What if it was a certainty, a Spirit-certified life preserver, an unsinkable objective truth, infinitely buoyant, able to keep your head above water even when your ship is going down?

What if it really worked?  What if it always worked?  What if there were no problems beyond its reach?

— Robert J. Morgan, The Promise: How God Works All Things Together For Good, p. 3

Boundaries in Marriage

Letting Go, Marriage, Truth 0

Remember that a boundary always deals with yourself, not the other person.  You are not demanding that your spouse do something — even respect your boundaries.  You are setting boundaries to say what you will do or will not do.  Only these kinds of boundaries are enforceable, for you do have control over yourself.  Do not confuse boundaries with a new way to control a spouse.  It is the opposite.  It is giving up control and beginning to love.  You are giving up trying to control your spouse and allowing him to take responsibility for his behavior.

In a marriage, as in no other relationship, the need for revealing your boundaries is important.  Passive boundaries, such as withdrawal, triangulation, pouting, affairs, and passive-aggressive behavior, are extremely destructive to a relationship.  Passive ways of showing people that they do not have control over you never lead to intimacy.  They never educate the other on who you really are; they only estrange.

Boundaries need to be communicated first verbally and then with actions.

Making a Point to Ourselves

Core Value, Healing, Truth 0

Trying excessively to make a point with another may mean that we have not yet made that point with ourselves.  Once we make that point with ourselves, once we understand, we will know what to do.

The issue is not about others understanding and taking us seriously.  The issue is not about others believing we’re good and good enough.  The issue is not about others seeing and believing how responsible or loving or competent we are.  The issue is not about whether others realize how deeply we are feeling a particular feeling.  We are the ones that need to see the light….

If I catch myself in the codependent trap of trying to emphasize something about myself to another, I will ask myself if I need to convince myself of that point.

— Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, p. 204

Let Our Light Shine

Life, Truth 0

Let us remember that we are not here to convince men, but to let our light shine.

Knowledge is not necessarily light.  And it is light, not knowledge, that we have to spread.  The best thing we can do — infinitely the best, indeed the only thing — that men may receive the truth, is to be ourselves true.  Beyond all doing of good is the being good, for he that is good not only does good things, but all that he does is good.

— George MacDonald, Your Life in Christ, p. 213

The Truth of Myth

Truth 0

Nonetheless, myth is the closest approximation to truth available to the finite human being.  And the truth of myth is not limited by time or place.  A myth tells of that which was true, is true, and will be true.  If we will allow it, myth will integrate intellect and intuition, night and day; our warring opposites are reconciled, male and female, spirit and flesh, desire and will, pain and joy, life and death.

— Madeleine L’Engle, The Irrational Season, quoted by Carole F. Chase in Glimpses of Grace, p. 143

Let Your Light Shine.

Life, Love, Truth 0

It is not, Let your good works shine, but Let your light shine.

Let it be the genuine love of your hearts, taking form in true deeds, not the doing of good deeds to prove that your opinions are right.  If you are thus true, your very talk about the truth will be a good work, a shining of the light that is in you.  A true smile is a good work and may do much to reveal the Father who is in heaven.  But the smile that is put on for the sake of looking right, or even for the sake of being right, will hardly reveal him because it is not like him.

— George MacDonald, Your Life in Christ, p. 210

The Minds of Children

Children and Books, Truth, Writing 0

One reason nearly half my books are for children is the glorious fact that the minds of children are still open to the living word; in the child, nightside and sunside are not yet separated; fantasy contains truths which cannot be stated in terms of proof….  The most grownup of us is not very grownup at all… the most mature of us is pretty immature… we still have a vast amount to learn.

— Madeleine L’Engle, The Irrational Season, quoted in Glimpses of Grace, compiled by Carole F. Chase

Opinion

Love, Truth 0

Not for a moment would I endeavor by argument to convince another of this, my opinion.  If it be true, it is God’s work to show it, for logic cannot. . . .

Friends, I have not said we are not to speak our opinions.  I have only said we are not to make those opinions the point of a fresh start, the foundation of a new building, the groundwork of anything.  Opinions are not to occupy us in our dealings with our brethren.

Opinion is often the very death of love.  Love aright, and you will come to think aright.  And those who think aright must think the same.

In the meantime, it matters nothing.  The thing that does matter is, that whereto we have attained, by that we should walk.  But, while we are not to insist upon our opinions, which is the only one way of insisting upon ourselves — however we may cloak the fact from ourselves in the vain imagination of thereby spreading the truth — we are bound by the loftiest duty to spread the truth.  For that is the saving of men. . . .

I do insist upon a better and the only indispensable way of spreading truth — let your light shine.

— George MacDonald, Your Life in Christ, p. 208-209