Metagapism is the belief that love is the ultimate reality, literally god and the one shared soul, and the source, nature and destiny of all.
~ John K. Brown
Love isn’t self-centered, even at the supreme scale.
That which isn’t love, isn’t god.
Peruse all the sermons of Jesus and you will be sure to find parables, and sometimes allegory. What you will always find, however, is something of keeping our hearts in order.
~ Jerome Strong
Somebody who is Christ's must love Christ, and when he loves Christ he is delivered from the Devil, from hell and from death.
~ Elder Porphyrios
Your spirit must be strong to survive a shock.
~ Lailah Gifty Akita
God can deliver you so well that some people won’t believe your testimony.
~ Shannon L. Alder
Many Americans first fell in love with the poetry of the thirteenth century teacher and spiritual leader Jelalludin Rumi during the early 1990s when the unparalleled lyrical grace, philosophical brilliance, and spiritual daring of his work took modern Western readers completely by surprise. The impact of its soulful beauty and the depth of its profound humanity were so intense that they reportedly prompted numerous individuals to spontaneously compose poetry.
~ Aberjhani
Who knows what the long-term effects of saving rescue dogs are and the healing lessons and love they bring to Earth? Each one of us has the capacity to influence hundreds - even thousands of people or animals through the way we live our lives.
~ Jadi Kindred
Love is bigger than everything.
~ Reba Riley
Sometimes to move forward, you have to find yourself backwards.
I considered not getting up, but recognized the pain of staying down was worse than the pain of attempting to stand.
Choose this life. Choose this body. Say yes to all of it. Say yes to the beauty and the good and the ugly and the difficult. Choose what you have, what you are. Choose this moment. Choose to love and remember. You are full. You are alive.
~ Kimber Simpkins
I always felt awkward and unfinished, unworthy of love, suspicious of affection offered. My mother's absence became a great presence in my life.
~ Marilyn Sewell
This is why being broken is so beautiful: being broken means you have cracks for love and light to shine through, gaps for the Godiverse to burrow and bloom, space to move from who you are to who you will become.
This body needs me to say yes to it, just as it is right now. No more singing that same old jingle of body-shame and dieter's promised lands.
The world is full of broken people who think they are surrounded by whole people.
~ Greg Garrett
If only you knew who you really were you would be fearless and love yourself with a grand passion! You are a unique shard of God, the Universe, the whole or whatever label you would like to call it. No one can take your place and without you endless synchronicity and evolution would not happen. You are so powerful that just by walking down the street you can change someone's life forever.
~ Michele Knight
Dreams dress us carefully in the colors of power and faith.
Got just enough room to be a friend of yours. Oh I hope you got room to be a friend of mine.
Everything good is good because of the love it contains.
The sun rises each morning to shed light on the things we may have overlooked the day before.
~ Tyler J. Hebert
Don't get me wrong, I like NASCAR and shopping at Nordstrom's, but discipleship is intrinsic as a lifestyle.~R. Alan Woods [2013]
~ R. Alan Woods
In the Gospel story we find five great points of special importance; the birth, the life on earth, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension. In these we have what an old writer has called the process of Jesus Christ; the process by which He became what He is to-day--our glorified King, and our life. In all this life process we must be made like unto Him.
~ Andrew Murray
...Love Christ and put nothing before His Love. He is joy, He is life, He is light. Christ is Everything. He is the ultimate desire, He is everything. Everything beautiful is in Christ.
...This is the way we should see Christ. He is our friend, our brother; He is whatever is good and beautiful. He is everything. Yet, He is still a friend and He shouts it out, You're my friends, don't you understand that? We're brothers. I'm not...I don't hold hell in my hands. I am not threatening you. I love you. I want you to enjoy life together with me.
Fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia
~ Max Lucado
I know where I come from, where I am now and where the wish to go.
Every species embodies a solution to some environmental challenge, and some of these solutions are breathtaking in their elegance.
~ Linda Bender
Animals remind us that all beings who walk, stand, swim, crawl, or fly are radiant, mysterious, and unique expressions of the Source. Every species, every culture, has it’s own genius.
Many people who live with animals have noticed that their cat or dog becomes solicitous of them when they are feeling unwell. A cat who is normally aloof may come sit in the sick person's lap; a normally rambunctious dog may tone himself down when his human friend isn't up to romping or running. In some cases, the ability of animals to sense illness in a human has been lifesaving.
Has it ever struck you as odd that humans are the only creatures on the planet who wear clothes? Everything else, from aardvarks to zebras, is running around in its birthday suit, blissfully unclear of the concept of underpants. Why don't people do the same?
I take it hard when an animal in my care suffers or dies. I take it even harder when the animal's suffering is the result of human exploitation or carelessness.
Great teachers often come to us in humble packaging. That little dog held the wisdom of a sage in his heart. I learned from him that healing is not about the success or failure of the physical body, that physical survival is secondary. All creatures wish to live and thrive, but bodies do wear out. The number of days we walk the earth (or fly or swim or crawl on it) is not the point. Animals live in the present moment. If kindness, caring, and respect fill that moment, life is fill, no matter what came before or what might come in the future. A soul that feels loved is joyous and healed.
It is commonplace, and true, to point out that animals are happier than people because they live entirely in the present.
Animals suffer both emotionally and physically, but they don't suffer metaphysically. That is, they don't suffer about suffering, don't get thrown into spiritual confusion by it, or fall out of connection with the divine because of it.
Because we tend to equate intelligence with language--particularly the ability to use language to think and communicate abstractions--it is natural to conclude that animals are, on the whole, a lot less intelligent than we are.
Animals don't know exactly what will happen when they die any more than we do. In the absence of specific knowledge, they simply trust. They trust death the way they trust life: as participation in the Source. What will happen when they die must be okay because what is happening now is okay.
The belief that every living thing has an individual soul is called animism. (Anima, which means 'soul,' is also the root of the word 'animal.') Anthropologists have found this belief to be universal in children, though the children themselves don't think of it as a belief. It is, to them, one of the most obvious features of the world around them, and the most obvious way of interpreting what goes on in that world.
I believe the happiness we feel in relation to animals is immensely significant. I believe it is absolutely central to our physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being.
