Sheryl Lebman

“I like to savor the smell of a garden I cannot see. Do you smell it? The pine, and the lavender—oh, yes, very strongly the lavender. The nose is as important as the eyes. Ask any horticulturist.” Poirot chuckled. “I think that if you and I were to meet the one who created this garden, I would make the more favorable impression upon him.”
― Sophie Hannah, Closed Casket

“The Bible seems to always be saying that this journey is indeed a journey, a journey always initiated and concluded by God, and a journey of transformation much more than mere education about anything. We would sooner have textbooks, I think. Then the journey would remain a spectator sport, as much religion often seems to be. The education model elicits a low level of commitment and investment, even if it keeps people obedient and orthodox. The transformation model risks people knowing and sharing “the One Spirit that was given us all to drink” (1 Corinthians 12:13). So sad that we have preferred conformity and group loyalty over real change! But chaos”
― John Feister, Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety

“The dualistic mind seemingly has a preference for knowing things by comparison. The price we pay for our dualistic mind is that one side of the comparison is always idealized and the other demonized, or at least minimized. There is little room for balance or honesty, much less love. Wisdom, however, is always holding the “rational” and the “romantic” together: Aristotle and Plato, Aquinas and Bonaventure, Freud and Jung, saint and sinner, Spirit and senses. In fact, you could say that the greater opposites you can hold together, the greater soul you usually have. By temperament, most of us prefer one side to the other. Holding to one side or another frees us from the tension and the anxiety. Only a few dare to hold the irresolvable tension in the middle. It is the “folly” of the cross, where you cannot “prove” you are right, but only “hang” between the good and the bad thieves of every issue, paying the price for their reconciliation (see Luke 23:39 ff.). The”
― John Feister, Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety