Rather than feel anger or revulsion toward a person, my first obligation, especially if I am in the helping profession, is to understand him or her: to gain insight into what it is like to be him or her; to imagine and to interpret the world from his or her perspective of experience. - John Banja, PhD

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician, in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care. - The Nightingale Pledge

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same. - Anne Frank

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou

Wake up little Isaac
And rub your tired eyes
Go and kiss your mama
We’ll be gone a little while
Come and walk beside me
Come and hold your papa’s hand
I go to make an altar
And to offer up my lamb

I waited on the Lord
And in a waking dream He came
Riding on a wind across the sand
He spoke my name
“Here I am,” I whispered
And I waited in the dark
The answer was a sword
That came down hard upon my heart

Holy is the Lord
Holy is the Lord
And the Lord I will obey
Lord, help me I don’t know the way

So take me to the mountain
I will follow where You lead
There I’ll lay the body
Of the boy You gave to me
And even though You take him
Still I ever will obey
But Maker of this mountain, please
Make another way

Holy is the Lord
Holy is the Lord
And the Lord I will obey
Holy is the Lord
Holy is the Lord
And the Lord I will obey
Lord, help me I don’t know the way

"Holy is the Lord" by Andrew Peterson

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley

There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds. - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. - Mother Teresa

If you knew that you would die today,
Saw the face of God and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that love can break your heart
When you're down so low you cannot fall
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

If you knew that you would be alone,
Knowing right, being wrong,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would find a truth
That brings up pain that can't be soothed
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

Are you so upright you can't be bent?
If it comes to blows are you so sure you won't be crawling?
If not for the good, why risk falling?
Why risk falling?

If everything you think you know,
Makes your life unbearable,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you'd broken every rule and vow,
And hard times come to bring you down,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would die today,
If you saw the face of God and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you saw the face of God and love
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

"Change" by Tracy Chapman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FodfkqfJrhQ

Lift up your eyes upon the day breaking for you. Give birth again to the dream. - Maya Angelou

Through our great fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Basic Principles - no woman wakes up saying "God, I hope I don't get swept off my feet today!" Now, she might say "This is a really bad time for me," or something like "I just need some space," or my personal favorite "I'm really into my career right now." You don't believe that? Neither does she. You know why? 'Cause she's lying to you, that's why. You understand me? Lying! It's not a bad time for her. She doesn't need any space. And she may be into her career, but what she's really saying is "Uh, get away from me now," or possibly "Try harder, stupid," but which one is it? 60% of all human communication is nonverbal, body language; 30% is your tone, so that means 90% of what you're saying ain't coming out of your mouth. Of course she's going to lie to you! She's a nice person! She doesn't want to hurt your feelings! What else she going to say? She doesn't even know you... yet. Luckily, the fact is that just like the rest of us, even a beautiful woman doesn't know what she wants until she sees it, and that's where I come in. My job is to open her eyes. Basic Principles - no matter what, no matter when, no matter who... any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet; he just needs the right broom. - Hitch :)

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death. - The Storyteller's Creed

Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for

- Love Is Not A Fight, Warren Barfield

It's not now or never.
It's not black, and it's not white.
Anything worth anything takes more than a few days
and a long, long night.

Don't push so hard against the world, no, no.
You can't do it all alone, and if you could,
would you really want to?
Even though you're a big strong girl -
come on, come on, lay it down.
The best made plans are your open hands.

Rest your head.
You've got two pillows to choose from
in a queen-sized bed.
Hold out for the moon
but don't expect connection any time soon.

Feel the light caress your fingertips.
You have just begun, the word has only left your lips.
Maybe in time, you will find
your arms are wrapped around the sun
you're wrapped around the sun.

- Big Strong Girl by Deb Talan

The family. We are a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. - Erma Bombeck

When I was 22, my grandmother gave me a chair, an old, squeaky, upholstered chair with red and blue flowers all over it. And I was so grateful. I mean, it was the only piece of furniture that I owned. I loved that chair. I would read in that chair, I would fall asleep in that chair, I would talk on the phone in that chair. I even called it the “power chair,” because I believed that I got power when I sat in it, which sounds totally ridiculous now because it’s somewhere in the basement and I just don’t sit in it that much anymore.
.
And when my wife and I were first married, we barely had any money. We had a tight budget. I distinctly remember, we’d be out with a group of people and someone would say, “Let’s go eat,” and we’d look at each other with this look, like: “Are they paying? Because if they’re not paying, we can’t go. We can’t afford it.” But, if we stuck to our budget, and we had no unexpected expenses, then we could afford to eat out once a month. And I remember going to the restaurant, and getting a table, and ordering something, and we would savor every detail of the experience. I mean, so filled with gratitude for the gift of eating out. Which now, it’s just, you know, it’s just not that big of a deal.
.
And so, over the years we’ve accumulated more and nicer furniture and we’ve eaten in some nice restaurants, and yet, it’s also possible to lose something along the way: the overwhelming gratitude of those first experiences, that acute ever-present awareness that this is all a gift.
.
I was talking with some people who just returned from a trip overseas, and they could not stop talking about the people that they met. People, you know, that we would describe as “poor.” And yet, they were struck with how filled with joy and peace these people were. They said, you know, at first they felt uncomfortable, you know, because we have “so much,” and they have “so little,” but after a while they started to wonder if they weren’t the ones who were actually poor. And so, they said, “We went to do a good work for them, and yet, we returned realizing that we received more than we ever gave.” Success can be dangerous, can’t it? We get everything that we wanted, only to discover that we’re missing something that we had before.
.
In the book of Deuteronomy, the great prophet Moses is teaching the Israelites the way of God. At one point he says to them, “When you’re in your field harvesting your crop, and you overlook a sheaf, don’t go back and get it; but leave it for the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. So that the Lord, your God, will bless all the work of your hands.”
.
So, the instruction is essentially this: let’s say you’re a farmer and you’ve got this field and you’re out harvesting your crop and you miss something on the first pass. Don’t go back and get it, but leave it. Leave that edge, or leave that corner for someone who really needs it.
.
And then the instructions continue: “And when you’re beating your olive tree, don’t go back over the branches a second time; but leave the olives that you didn’t get on the first pass for the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. And when you’re harvesting your grapes, don’t go over the vines a second time, but leave the grapes that remain for the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant.”
Now, wait, wait, wait.
.
Imagine that you own the vineyard. Imagine that this is how you make your living, and you spend all this time trimming and pruning, and you make sure that the grapes are healthy, and you make sure that the vines have enough water, and you spend all this time for the harvest. And now you’re told that whatever grapes you can’t get on the first pass, whatever you miss, you have to leave for somebody that hasn’t done all the work that you’ve done?
.
That’s not fair.
.
Why should someone who hasn’t done all the work that I’ve done come onto my land, and take my grapes, my olives, my grain that I missed on the first pass?
But the teaching isn’t over. It ends with this line: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.”
.
You see, these people were slaves in Egypt and they were rescued and they were released from slavery. This is a major moment in the Bible. God has heard the cry of these oppressed slaves in misery in Egypt, and God has liberated them. And it’s to these poor, wandering former slaves in the desert that the instructions are given about what to do with the grapes, the grain, and the olives that they don’t have.
Do you see what Moses is doing here? Moses is essentially saying to these poor, wandering, former slaves in the wilderness: “It’s not always gonna be like this. Someday, you’re gonna arrive in your new land, and you’re gonna build houses and you’re gonna settle down. And you’re gonna have crops and you’re gonna harvest them. Someday, you’re gonna be successful. And the danger is that you’re gonna forget Egypt. You’re gonna forget what it was like to be set free. The danger is that you’re gonna forget what it was like to experience liberation.”
.
I mean, it isn’t fair. It’s my vineyard, it’s my olive grove, it’s my field. Why should I let these people come onto my property and take what I worked so hard to produce?
.
That’s not fair. Exactly. Because being rescued from slavery in Egypt wasn’t fair. Liberation isn’t fair. Redemption isn’t fair. Grace isn’t fair. God isn’t fair.
.
Is this passage in Deuteronomy about grapes, grain, and olives? Is this a series of commands, or are these warnings? Warnings about what happens when you lose your sense of appreciation and gratitude for what you’ve been given.
When we leave a corner, when we empower others, when we extend grace to others in their oppression, whatever that may look like, we find out about the grace that God has extended to us.
.
So, when Jesus talks about taking water to those who are thirsty, it isn’t just about the necessity of getting water to those who need it. It’s about us being constantly reminded of the gift of water we’ve had all along.
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Now, there’s a slight chance that this might, possibly, for some people have something to do with either giving money away or spending it differently. But, this is ultimately about the far larger truth that if we each don’t find some suffering, and do something about it, then we may become miserable. Our achievement, our education, our wealth, our time, and our money will turn on us if we don’t spread them around. We leave a corner because in helping save someone else from suffering, we may, in the process, find ourselves being saved. From indifference. From the inertia of inaction. From taking what we have for granted. We leave a corner because our world is either shrinking or it’s expanding. It’s either contracting in on itself or it’s opening up. Our lives are either more and more about us, more stuff, more unsatisfying consumption, or we’re on a different path and this is why Jesus talked so much about serving. It wasn’t so that we’d have these incredibly heavy burdens of: “Oh, I guess I’m supposed to help.” It’s about keeping your own story alive. It’s about never forgetting just what you’ve been given.
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So may you come to see that grace isn’t fair, redemption isn’t fair, liberation isn’t fair. And may you extend this unfairness to others, finding out that your overflow is somebody else’s necessity. May you find someone who needs what you have, only to discover that they had what you needed all along.
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Bell, R. (2009). NOOMA: Corner [Motion Picture]. Flannel: Grand Rapids, MI.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. - Mother Teresa

Please help me win, but if I can not, let me be brave in the attempt. - Special Olympics creed

I see Your hands, not white and manicured, but scarred and scratched and competent, reach out - not always to remove the weight I carry, but to shift its balance, ease it, make it bearable. Lord, if this is where You want me, I'm content. No, not quite true; I wish it were. All I can say, in honesty, is this: "If this is where I'm meant to be, I'll stay. And try. Just let me feel Your hands." - Eddie Askew

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. - T.E. Lawrence

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. - Mother Teresa

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. - Frederick Buechner

You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. - A.A. Milne

Sometimes it seems like we're all living in some kind of prison and the crime is how much we hate ourselves. It's good to get really dressed up every once in a while and admit the truth that when you really look closely, people are so strange and so complicated that they're actually beautiful. Possibly even me. - My So-Called Life

Until the ending of our days, we will be part of one another's lives. However far apart, however different, we are essential to each other. - Pam Brown

For babies people have to pay a heavy price from day to day - there is no way to get one cheap. Why sometimes while they're fast asleep you have to get up in the night and go and see that they're alright. But what they cost in constant care and worry does not half compare with what they bring of joy and bliss - you'd pay much more for just a kiss. - Edgar Guest

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty. Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us. No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a timetable. - C.S. Lewis

There is something about the snow-laden sky in winter in the late afternoon that brings to the heart elation and the lovely meaninglessness of time. Whenever I get home - whenever - somebody loves me there. Meanwhile, I stand in the same dark peace as any pine tree, or wander on slowly like the still unhurried wind, waiting, as for a gift, for the snow to begin - which it does at first casually, then, irrepressibly. Wherever else I live - in music, in words, in the fires of the heart, I abide just as deeply in this nameless, indivisible place, this world, which is falling apart now, which is white and wild, which is faithful beyond all our expressions of faith, our deepest prayers. Don't worry, sooner or later I'll be home. Red-cheeked from the roused wind, I'll stand in the doorway stamping my boots and slapping my hands, my shoulders covered with stars. - Mary Oliver "Walking Home from Oak-head"

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again and what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: "Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work - we must all work - to make the world worthy of its children." - Pablo Casals

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. - Douglas Noel Adams

Little drops of water, little grains of sand,
make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.
And the little moments, humble though they be,
make the mighty ages of Eternity.

- Julia A. Carney

I pray You'll be our eyes, and watch us where we go, and help us to be wise in times when we don't know. Let this be our prayer, as we go our way: Lead us to a place, guide us with Your grace, to a place where we'll be safe. I pray we'll find Your light and hold it in our hearts; when stars go out each night remind us where you are. Let this be our prayer, when shadows fill our day: Lead us to a place, guide us with Your grace, give us faith so we'll be safe. We ask that life be kind and watch us from above; we hope each soul will find another soul to love. Let this be our prayer: Just like every child needs to find a place, guide us with Your grace, give us faith so we'll be safe. - David Foster and Carol Bayer Sager, "The Prayer"

The enemy is fear. We think it is hate, but it is fear. - Ghandi

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit's deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
- Denise Levertov, "The Avowal"

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson