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Sunday Night Quotes 4/22/2012-Spring

Today was absolutely beautiful in the Pacific Northwest! The evening has been  just perfect as we celebrate Earth Day to the tunes sung by the evening birds and receding sun. Today has actually felt like Spring actually has arrived. With these experiences fresh in mind tonight’s quotes are about Spring!

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!
~Sitting Bull

“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.” ~Robert Schuller

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”  ~Robin Williams

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.  ~Rainer Maria Rilke

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.  ~Proverb

Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world.  ~Virgil A. Kraft

That God once loved a garden we learn in Holy writ. And seeing gardens in the Spring I well can credit it. ~Winifred Mary Letts

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.  ~Margaret Atwood

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

Spring has returned.  The Earth is like a child that knows poems.  ~Rainer Maria Rilke

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.  The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.  ~Henry Van Dyke

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself ~ Lao Tzu

Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.  ~Victor Hugo

If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap in the autumn. ~Irish Proverb

Sunday Night Quotes 3/25/2012

As I settle in to select quotes for tonight, my choice has been influenced by the events of the day. This afternoon I officiated a funeral service for a man who knew me most of my life. He lived 94 incredibly full years, and today his family and friends said goodbye and entered the journey of grieving which actually reminds us of life and love. So, my quotes tonight will focus on life. May they bring you some sense of God’s goodness and presence in all things. ~Monty

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.  ~William Wallace

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”  ~Dr. Seuss

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.” ~William W. Purkey

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”  ~Oscar Wilde

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”
~Mother Teresa

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~Mark Twain

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~George Bernard Shaw

“Death ends a life, not a relationship.” ~Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie

“Where there is love there is life.”  ~Mahatma Gandhi

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”  ~Søren Kierkegaard

“I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.”
~Paulo Coelho

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A life changing question…

Check out part 2 of my interview with Tony Russell on his Transformation21 feed. In this segment we are talking about a question(s) that can truly change the direction of your life as you step int the purpose that you were created for!

http://talktotony.squarespace.com/storage/montypod2.mp3

Ruined For The Ordinary

In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace is speaking before a rag-tag bunch of Scotsmen attempting to breathe purpose into their weary hearts. These men have been used as disposable pawns by the nobles; they have lost friends and family fighting the English while their leaders have made deals of safety and security. Tired, dejected and weary of living a life that seems to be going nowhere the men begin to leave the battle-field. It is at this moment of “nothing really matters” that Wallace rides in and begins to paint a picture of purpose and meaning. From atop his mount Wallace cries,  “Every man dies, not every man really lives.” 

There is a reason to live…there is a purpose to life…it is not found in mere existence, but rather it is a divine seed that is within every person who breathes. When we begin to cultivate this divine gift of passion, purpose and potentiality, we become ruined for the ordinary and that truly is God’s desire for you…to be ruined for the ordinary.

I have talked with too many men and women who wish they could have another job…wish they had a different life or family but feel emotionally and vocationally stuck riding out the current of existence.

Jesus did not give His life so that we would merely exists, living in apathy or atrophy…He died so that His very life would be infused into us jump starting the divine ride of a lifetime!

Ralph Waldo Emerson noted that: It is not length of life, but depth of life, that truly matters. Jesus said it this way:

“If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for My sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.”   Mark 8:35

* Everyone dies, but not many really live…

* It’s not the length of life that matters, but rather the depth of life…

* Living full-on for the Good news of Jesus births a passionate life marinated in depth.

When I decided to take God at His word…I found life. When I chose to allow the Good News of Christ to become my mission…I found purpose. When I surrendered my agendas to the Holy Spirit, and began experiencing the path illuminated by Him, I was ruined for the ordinary.

There are many days that I stand amazed at all the things God has allowed me to be a part of, from helping a village in Uganda receive clean water, to handing out sleeping bags to the homeless in downtown Seattle. From holding the hand of a friend in pain, to riding horses over the Canadian Rockies with a bunch of crazy guys. From experiencing the peace, presence and power of God in my life to witnessing a family healed and transformed through the grace and peace of God in the community of faith.

The beauty of beginning to really live life is that you don’t have to move, change jobs, find a new family, or get it all together. No, God will meet you right where you are, just as you are, right now.

He simply asks a question. “Will you follow me?” If you will answer Him will a committed “Yes,” and allow Him to take the driver’s seat, you will begin to view your job, your life, your spouse, your friends and your family through a radically different set of eyes.

You will begin to see beauty where there was ash. You will begin to experience hope where there was apathy. You will begin to the fingerprints and the dance of Trinity all around you, and you too will be ruined for the ordinary.

Dei Gratia,

Monty