Category: Words of Wisdom

For you will light my lamp, Lord. My God will light up my darkness. – Psalms 18:28 WEBBE

Our eyes are not made to focus on more than one direction at a time. We can only focus on one.

The same is true with spiritual things. We can either focus on the bad and be driven down, or we can focus on the good and be lifted up.

When we try to focus on evil, our spiritual eyes find nothing but darkness. No matter how justified we feel we are, dwelling upon the thought of sin pulls us down. It sooner or later infects our hearts as with a poison. It blocks our view of the light of God, which is our joy and our peace.

Thinking about sin, whether our own or another’s , creates a spiritual fog that robs from us the sight of God’s beauty. Instead, we should seek God’s healing and strength on behalf of us all, and when we look at another who has fallen into sin, we should focus only on compassion and our own brokenness, longing for God’s healing for us both. Without this attitude, our own souls will trip and stumble into sin. Compassion is our protection.– All Shall Be Well by Ellyn Sanna

Sometimes, God leads us into a place of weakness so that we may know everything we have ever accomplished was only by God’s grace strengthening us and guiding us through. – Jocelyn Soriano

It is not by our strength alone that we accomplish great things, but by God’s strength. Without Him, we can accomplish nothing.

All our gifts, our talents, and our resources came from Him who loves us and knows our needs even before we ask. He supplies us all the days that we live and everything we could ever do is because of His grace.

In times when we reach a place of weakness, let us remember where our hope really is. It’s not upon our strength alone but in God’s strength. We need not be afraid, because all these years we thought we were able to make it through on our own, God was really with us, carrying us upon His shoulders.

Let all our feelings of helplessness draw us closer to Him who is the fountain of our refreshment and strength. Let it remind us that we need not think we are orphans because we have a Father who loves us and cares for all our needs.

You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the LORD’s mouth. – Deuteronomy 8, WEBBE

We know we found something of infinite worth, when for the sake of it, we stop counting the cost of our efforts and we start to give everything else away. – Jocelyn Soriano

Recent times have taught us to weigh the cost of almost everything. We invest something in order to get a desired profit. We give in order to receive. We love in order to be loved.

But is this really what true love means? Is love something we can weigh or measure in any way?

For if we truly love, why do we count each effort that we do for love? And why do we continue to keep a record of wrongs?

In counting the cost of everything, we fail to find that which could never be counted. In seeking what is visible, we fail to find what exists beyond what the eyes can see.

If we truly desire to find love, let us try to reach for something beyond what we can count or measure, something beyond what we can command or control. Sometimes, it’s when we seem to lose everything that we gain what’s truly valuable. It’s when we empty ourselves that we are truly filled.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. – Matthew 13, NRSVCE

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is very difficult to see the good virtues of people who have just hurt us. At the moment of pain, all we can see is the evil they have done, an evil for which we may suffer our whole lives through.

But if we can only see through the eyes of compassion, we may begin to see that behind the frightening masks, there are people like you who have also been hurt. People who may not even know what they are truly doing because they are so lost in their own darkness and pain.

This is not to lessen the weight of their sins nor to ignore our own suffering. But to be able to find compassion for those who have hurt us is to help us release much of the wrath that weighs us down.

To see a brother or a sister instead of seeing an enemy is to find a place for love. It is in this very place where we can begin to find a ray of hope for our own healing and peace.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” – Luke 23:34, WEBBE

At times how hard it seems to forgive! And yet pardon is the instrument placed into our fragile hands to attain serenity of heart. – Pope Francis

Forgiveness is not only for the person being forgiven, it is also for the one who is able to forgive. It is in forgiveness that one begins to let go of the past so that one can finally face the future. It is in forgiveness that one can stop dwelling upon the pain in order to begin the process of healing.

For we are not healed by revenge or by holding on to our resentments no matter how justified we think we may be. We are not healed by forever repeating the tragedies we’ve been through. We are healed when we seek our wholeness where it can truly be found.

Our healing is not within the power of our offender. It is in the power of Him who heals all hearts, in Him who heals both body and soul.

By always looking back, we deprive ourselves of the chance to look to Him who can lift us up, who alone can restore all that we have ever lost.

It is never easy. But we need to make that necessary exchange – to let go of our bitterness to receive the sweetness of peace; and to offer up all our miseries to receive the healing we’re yearning for.

Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord? – Sirach 28, NRSVCE