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“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

Month: March 2011

Centering

George 0 Comments

I have been taking pottery lessons for the past 8-9 weeks. There is a lot to learn and I am enjoying the experience. I have created some pieces that I am reasonably pleased with. In addition to the pleasure of the experience, working the clay is an opportunity to learn some interesting lessons.

When you throw clay on the wheel, the first and most difficult step is to center the clay on the wheel. If you do not get the lump of clay centered you will not be able to shape and work the clay properly. I really struggle with centering. Part of the problem is that centering is not achieved by simply following the teacher’s instructions, it requires a sense of feel and understanding that comes through the whole experience. You might say a relationship with the clay develops. The clay is no longer independent but becomes compliant, yielding to the will of the firm hand of the potter. It is only when all the vibration and resistance of the clay has diminished that the clay is centered and then can be shaped to the will of the potter.

Those who know me well will probably understand why I have such a hard time with centering.

Good Thoughts

George 0 Comments

From Crazy Love by Francis Chan:

Oswald Chambers wrote, “Never make a principle out of your experience;   let God be as original with other people as He is with you.” To  that I would add, “Be careful not to turn others’ lives into the mold for  your own.” Allow God to be as creative with you as He is with each of us.

Not being able to fully understand God is frustrating, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending.

Nothing compares to being truly, exuberantly wanted by your  children.

When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is.

God Wants Us

George 0 Comments

More from McManus’s Soul Cravings

If those who are the religious elite are closest to God, why is it that they are so rarely closest to love?

If God is love, those who know God best would love people most. Jesus said he came not to condemn the world, but to bring the world life. Why is it that so many who represent him are ever so quick to condemn? All her accusers could see was a woman guilty of adultery. There’s always so much more behind these stories -a woman abused by her husband searching for love; a little girl abused by a relative, who would forever confuse love with sex; a prostitute who would sell love for a price but had none to give.

If Jesus’ encounter with this unnamed adulterous woman tells us anything, it reveals the unexpected truth that the safest place for a sinful person to go is to God. He and he alone is the only One who will neither condemn us nor leave us in our brokenness. On the mount of Olives she found herself most alone and discovered the unimaginable – God wanted her. God was her place to belong, and this reality became the beginning of new things. That may be the most powerful thing about love. Love gives us a fresh start . Love gives us a reason to live.

When life isn’t what it should be, love gives us the strength to endure whatever may come.