Trust and faith

I have learned that faith means trusting in advance
what will only make sense in reverse.

        Philip Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places

 

 

 

 

Poem: Butter

My mother loves butter more than I do,
more than anyone. She pulls chunks off
the stick and eats it plain, explaining
cream spun around into butter! Growing up
we ate turkey cutlets sauteed in lemon
and butter, butter and cheese on green noodles,
butter melting in small pools in the hearts
of Yorkshire puddings, butter better
than gravy staining white rice yellow,
butter glazing corn in slipping squares,
butter the lava in white volcanoes
of hominy grits, butter softening
in a white bowl to be creamed with white
sugar, butter disappearing into
whipped sweet potatoes, with pineapple,
butter melted and curdy to pour
over pancakes, butter licked off the plate
with warm Alaga syrup. When I picture
the good old days I am grinning greasy
with my brother, having watched the tiger
chase his tail and turn to butter. We are
Mumbo and Jumbo’s children despite
historical revision, despite
our parent’s efforts, glowing from the inside
out, one hundred megawatts of butter.

             Elizabeth Alexander

 

 

 

 

Dreamers

We can redream this world and make the dream come real.
        Human beings are gods hidden from themselves.

                    Ben Okri, The Famished Road

 

 

 

Words to live by

Yet, as our power has grown, so has our peril. Today we give our thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers--for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and the humility, which they possessed and which we must seek every day to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.

Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings--let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals--and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world.

                John F. Kennedy, in his last Thanksgiving Day proclamation, 1963 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take me to the river

I love you like a river that creates the right conditions
for trees and bushes and flowers to flourish along its banks.
I love you like a river that gives water to the thirsty
and takes people where they want to go.

            Paulo Coelho, Aleph

 

 

 

 

Truth stands

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation,
nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
Truth stands, even if there be no public support.
It is self sustained.

            Mahatma Gandhi, Young India

 

 

 

 

 

Big difference

We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

        Alfred North Whitehead, The Education of an Englishman