Richard M

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve -- even in pain -- the authentic relationship. Further more, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

“Believers in persecution remind us of a possible lie inherent in Western Christian cultures. We sometimes thank God that we live in countries where we are “free to worship.” It is interesting that public prayers are rarely uttered thanking God that we are “free to witness”! Significantly, witnessing to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has little to do with political freedom. Believers are as free to share Jesus in Saudi Arabia as they are in St. Louis. Believers are as free to share Jesus in Somalia as they are in Kentucky. Being a witness for Jesus has little to do with political freedom. On the contrary, our willingness to witness has everything to do with obedience and courage. We can easily convince ourselves that being a positive witness for Jesus is a matter of political freedom. In truth, however, being a positive witness for Jesus is a simple matter of obedience and courage. Our witness may, in fact, result in persecution—but we always have the freedom to share even when there are negative (and perhaps devastating) consequences to that sharing.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places