Prayer

Photo of Japanese Contemplation Garden by Scott MacLeod-Lddle

Here are some great quotes about prayer.

I wake up in the morning and don’t know whether to save the world or savor it, and this makes it hard to plan my day.
E.B. White

My shoes

I leave aside my shoes - my ambitions,
undo my watch - my timetable,
take off glasses - my views,
unclip my pen - my work,
put down my keys - my security,
to be alone with you, the only true God.

After being with you,
I take up my shoes - to walk in your ways,
strap on my watch - to live in your time,
put on my glasses - to look at your world,
clip on my pen - to write up your thoughts,
pick up my keys - to open up your doors.

Anonymous

Grit and worry

"Perhaps a teacher should be like the grit that gets into the shell of an oyster, How does it fell for the oyster? An irritation? A pain? Whatever effect, the result may be a pearl, beautiful or misshapen, but a precious object nevertheless. A learner has to worry at the thing. Many teachers provide the pearls ready-made. Students are asked to value them highly for what they are, to store them in their bags. But they are borrowed, put into a bank. It is the pearls the students make themselves that they really value, that matter tor them, and that will have a significant effect on their thinking, behaviour and self-esteem." David Minton in Teaching Skills in Further and Adult Education, 2005 (p 46)

Creation

Our God and Father, you have revealed to us the secrets of the earth, the sea and the sky.
You have enabled us to discover the animal, vegetable and mineral resources of this planet.
Teach us now to use them wisely, effectively and to the benefit of us all, so that we may in unity enjoy the riches which you have provided, in justice, peace and prosperity; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Gordon McPhate, Dean of Chester Cathedral.

enabling organisation

The core [of VISA] was an enabling organization that existed for the sole purpose of assisting owner-members to do what they wished with greater capacity, more effectively, and at less cost.

Dee Hock, 1999, Birth of the chaordic age, p.190

Time for new stories

We have lost our local, communal stories and destroyed the places for their telling. Nor do we have a new compelling global story or communal places for its telling. The stories now endlessly drummed into us are not our stories. The are the stories those with escalating power and wealth tell to one another. Stories that incessantly pour into us through commercialisation of media and every other aspect of life. They are stories designed to arouse greed in the many to satisfy it in the few. They are stories that appeal to the worst, not the best in us. They are false stories. Deep inside, we no longer believe them. Neither do those who tell them, if the truth be known.

Dee Hock, 1999, Birth of the chaordic age, p.298f