decay

Autumn wins you best by this its mute

Appeal to sympathy for its decay.

Robert Browning

ourselves

We begin to find and become ourselves when we notice how we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be.

Anne Lamott

forbidden

The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become.

Mark Twain

experience

Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.

Oscar Wilde

friend

Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Albert Camus

silent

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.

Henri Nouwen

hope

What do you do with what you cannot fix/

When all is undone and your miracle wont come?/

What do you do, despair pushing on your chest/

When you don’t know if you’re coming up for another breath?

Lyrics by Lance Odegard - Hope

well liked

Being well liked is like the hamster’s wheel/

when all of your life is spent generating appeal/

Placaters get played and appeasers are rarely pleased/

at the end of the day can you live with the you you’ve made?

Lyrics by Lance Odegard - Honestly

savouring

there’s more to the journey/

than strict efficiency/

it’s more like savouring/

less like point A to B/

Lyrics by Lance Odegard - Motion is Easy

renovation

If my life is like a house then Lord you are in it/

We’ve sat around this kitchen table sharing stories and dinner/

You unsettle all the small-talk with your request to see more rooms and floors/ I am fighting selective honesty and the urge to clean before I open these doors/

Lyrics by Lance Odegard and Aimee Odegard - Renovation

epiphany

I’m the planet and You’re the Sun/

Does it have to take light years for this epiphany to come?/

Lyrics by Lance Odegard - Orbit

wonder

When I lived in awe believing was easy/

And I trusted You and knew how big You were/

But I am so old now deficient in wonder/

How long has it been since I dropped my jaw with a gasp?

Time to grow, grow young/

because I don’t want to miss all Your kingdom come/

Lyrics by Lance Odegard - Young

generous

What do I have that’s not received/

from your hand my generous God?

To breathe, to laugh, to love, and to know you here/

all gifts from you my generous God/

Lyrics by Lance Odegard - Generous

afire

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

well

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

share

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advise, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand.

Henri Nouwen

tender

There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate.

Robert Frost