Having been brought up with a definition of faith as adherence to a set of beliefs, I have more and more begun to turn instead toward a definition of faith as openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be. Barbara Brown Taylor More Quotes by Barbara Brown Taylor More Quotes From Barbara Brown Taylor I became so attentive to the souls of other people that I was not as attentive as I might have been to my own. Barbara Brown Taylor soul might people I am always surprised by people who speak of faith as if it happens in the air somewhere. Our bodies are God's best way of getting to us. Revelation begins in the flesh. Barbara Brown Taylor body air people I don't have time for a job that doesn't leave me time to be quiet or still or to pray. Barbara Brown Taylor praying quiet jobs I'll do my best to always put God and neighbor ahead of ego, but I want to find myself, and if finding myself means losing my ego self, I'll go there. Barbara Brown Taylor ego self mean Because I'm a "strong person," the symptoms hit me by surprise. It was, as I write in the book, stinging in my eyes after Sunday that I thought was an allergy, until one day I sat in the car and decided to just let my eyes tear up so that whatever was in them would come out, and what came out were tears that wouldn't stop. It was literally a physical reaction that was my first indication there was anything wrong. Barbara Brown Taylor strong writing book I'm leaving out some of the hugely successful megachurches, of which I have very little experience. Barbara Brown Taylor leaving successful littles When someone asks us where we want to be in our lives, the last thing that occurs to us is to look down at our feet and say, 'Here, I guess, since this is where I am.' Barbara Brown Taylor feet want looks I can't help but note that God is being useful to a lot of people trying to do harm to one another. Barbara Brown Taylor helping trying people For a long time I listened to other people to decide whether I was still Christian or not, and I would sort of vet myself by the traditional formulae. Barbara Brown Taylor christian long people I'm a follower of the Christ path, and that opens a huge discussion about what we even mean by words like "Christian." Barbara Brown Taylor followers christian mean When I say I trust Jesus, that is what I mean: I trust that the way of life leads through perishability, not around it. Barbara Brown Taylor mean way jesus I wanted to be as close as I could to the Really Real, and I'll capitalize both of those R's, because God is a word that means different things to different people, but we might all agree it's what is most real. Barbara Brown Taylor real mean people I read more widely. I made friends more widely. I wore more red. I stayed home on Sundays. I did things that were never in the realm of possible things to do before. That was a real desert experience for me. Barbara Brown Taylor sunday real home You can create an intimate community of about 20 or 25 people, and beyond that you're into a different kind of relationship. Barbara Brown Taylor community different people I'm in a mainline church, I'm very aware, especially as I move through community churches and new-start churches that are making real efforts not to associate themselves with traditional denominations - very often they have no history. They have no institutional memory. Barbara Brown Taylor real memories moving I think my idea of God was much more directive than my idea of God now, that is, a God who had one plan in mind for me, perhaps, and my job was to find out what it was and obey. Barbara Brown Taylor jobs ideas thinking The boundaries became constrictive in what I was doing, and if my faith grew, it was because I pressed some of the boundaries in ways I hadn't felt comfortable or responsible doing that before. Barbara Brown Taylor responsible boundaries way The beauty in the losing is a loss finally of self-consciousness. There's a gorgeous moment that can happen in all kinds of places. It can happen with people, it can happen with nature, and it can happen with my eyes shut anywhere I am. Barbara Brown Taylor eye self loss I miss the hot spots. I miss the hospital calls. I miss the nursing homes. I miss the really intimate human contact with other people, which I did nothing to earn. Barbara Brown Taylor nursing home people You probably can't get much closer to God than serving a congregation 24/7. At the same time, there's a different kind of closeness in this present life I have in which I have much more freedom to come and go and to engage some of the silence and stillness and solitude that I was missing before. Barbara Brown Taylor solitude silence missing
