Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because he said, Do it, or once abstained because he said, Do not do it. It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe, in him, if you do not do anything he tells you…

Oh the folly of any mind that would explain God before obeying him! That would map out the character of God instead of crying Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do!…

George Macdonald

quoted in Elizabeth Goudge, A Book of Faith, London:Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, p.214

~~~

True faith is provisional, flexible, undogmatic, open to doubt and reason. True faith is not like a picture frame, a permanently limited area of acceptance. It is like a plant which keeps on throwing forth shoots and growing.

Swami Prabharananda and Christopher Isherwood, How to know God:the yoga aphorisms of Patanjali, Vedanta Press

quoted in Elizabeth Goudge, A Book of Faith, London:Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, p.215

~~~

The courage to be myself eludes me,

A shadow of what might be I remain,

And all the while in other lives I see

The wholeness that I lack and can’t attain.

The freedom to be myself eludes me,

For freedom itself does not liberate;

To be free to serve is the key to love

That can make of life a meaningful state.

The challenge of loving faith includes me,

I hear this call and can never stay out,

For love without faith is but sentiment

And faith is the courage to live in doubt.

E.M., A nun of Burnham Abbey,

quoted in Elizabeth Goudge, A Book of Faith, London:Hodder and Stoughton, 1976, p.217

~~~

Why do I ask you to

perform a miracle,

Lord,

when I won’t perform my duty?

When I do the

possible,

then you will do the

impossible!

Susan Lenkes

in Selwyn Hughes, Every Day with Jesus, Sunbury-on- Thames,Middlesex:CWR, Jan./Feb. 1988

Related Articles:

• PRAYER OF A HUMBLE SERVANT
• Solidarity in Weakness
• 25 LISTS OF EVERYTHING INTERESTING/IMPORTANT
• Braco’s Enchanting Gaze (what do you make of this?)
• God’s love (by Richard Rohr)

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.