Despair has been called the unforgivable sin-not presumably because God refuses to forgive it, but because it despairs of the possibility of being forgiven. Frederick Buechner More Quotes by Frederick Buechner More Quotes From Frederick Buechner In other words to live Eternal Life in the full and final sense is to be with God as Christ is with him, and with each other as Christ is with us. Frederick Buechner eternal-life finals christ If you want to talk about grace, if you want to talk about revelation, talk about your life with some depth, which doesn't mean lurid revelations as much as simply looking at your own deep experiences and describing them as they are. Frederick Buechner depth grace mean Much as we wish, not one of us can bring back yesterday or shape tomorrow. Only today is ours, and it will not be ours for long, and once it is gone it will never in all time be ours again. Thou only knowest what it holds in store for us, yet even we know something of what it will hold. The chance to speak the truth, to show mercy, to ease another’s burden. The chance to resist evil, to remember all the good times and good people of our past, to be brave, to be strong, to be glad. Frederick Buechner strong yesterday past God created us in joy and created us for joy, and in the long run not all the darkness there is in the world and in ourselves can separate us finally from that joy, because whatever else it means to say that God created us in His image, I think it means that even when we cannot believe in Him, even when we feel most spiritually bankrupt and deserted by Him, His mark is deep within us. We have God's joy in our blood. Frederick Buechner running mean believe Prayers out of, very often, not the most religious part of me, but the most anxious part of me, the most desperately loving, fearing part of me. Frederick Buechner anxious religious prayer The world needs people who save lives. Frederick Buechner people world needs ...words are in a way our godly sharing in the work of creation, and the speaking and writing of words is at once the most human and the most holy business we engage in. Frederick Buechner godly writing way Don't let your life just go in one eye and out the other. Frederick Buechner eye That's five friends, one each for Jesu's wounds, and Godric bears their mark still on what's left of him as in their time they all bore his on them. What's friendship, when all's done, but the giving and taking of wounds? Frederick Buechner done bears giving You can never be sure whether you are discovering the truth or inventing it. Frederick Buechner discovering-the-truth inventing discovering Listen. Your life is happening. You are happening. Think back on your journey. The music of your life. Frederick Buechner journey life-is thinking I'm not religious in the sense that I do not subscribe to any particular set of religious dogma. I don't go to church. I don't read the Bible. But I believe that the word "Spirit" with a capital S points to an ultimate reality which I give my heart to. Frederick Buechner religious heart believe At the evening of our day, we shall be judged by our loving. Frederick Buechner judged evening A Christian isn't necessarily any nicer than anybody else, just better informed. Frederick Buechner christian Where your deep gladness meets with the deep hunger of the world, there you will find a further calling. Frederick Buechner purpose calling world They are prepared for a God who strikes hard bargains but not for a God who gives as much for an hour's work as for a day's. They are prepared for a mustard-seed kingdom of God no bigger than the eye of a newt but not for the great banyan it becomes with birds in its branches singing Mozart. They are prepared for the potluck supper at First Presbyterian but not for the marriage supper of the lamb. Frederick Buechner eye bird giving Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. Frederick Buechner tears eye attention It is the first day because it has never been before and the last day because it will never be again. Be alive, if you can, all through this day - today - of your life. What's to be done? What's to be done? Follow your feet. Put on the coffee. Start the orange juice, the bacon, the toast. Then go wake up your children and your spouse. Think about the work of your hands. Live in the needs of the day. Frederick Buechner coffee children thinking It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it. It is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him. Frederick Buechner men children jesus But it has been my experience that the risks are faroutweighed by the rewards, chief of which is when you speak to strangers as though they are friends, more often than not, if only for as long as the encounter lasts, they become friends, and if in the process they also think of you as a little peculiar, who cares? Frederick Buechner risk long thinking
