“I Will Carry You”
“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:3-4” If this was God’s relationship with physical Israel, how much more do these intimate and comforting words belong to those who have the faith of Abraham, whose hearts are fully His. What a connection. What nurturing. What gratitude we have for His comfort.
"Look For Truth. Find Comfort"
I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth- only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair. Most of us have got over the prewar wishful thinking about international politics. It is time we did the same about religion.
C.S. Lewis
"The Mingling Threads of Life"
Oh, grassy glades! oh, ever vernal endless landscapes in the soul; in ye-thought long parched by the dead drought of the earthly life- in ye, men yet may roll, like young horses in new morning clover; and for some few fleeting moments, feel the cool dew of the life immortal on them. Would to God these blessed calms would last. But the mingled, mingling threads of life are woven by warp and woof: calms crossed by storms, a storm for every calm.
Herman Melville
The Pure, Bright, Serene Atmosphere of God's Presence
Let us not seek out of you what we can only find in you,
O Lord.
Peace and rest, and joy and bliss,
which abide only in your abiding joy.
Lift up our souls above the weary round of harassing thoughts
to your eternal presence.
Lift up our minds to the pure, bright,
serene atmosphere of your presence,
that we may breathe freely,
there repose in your love,
there be at rest from ourselves
and from all things that weary us:
and thence return,
arrayed in your peace,
to do and to bear
whatsoever shall best please you,
O Blessed Lord.
Edward Bouverie Pusey
O Lord.
Peace and rest, and joy and bliss,
which abide only in your abiding joy.
Lift up our souls above the weary round of harassing thoughts
to your eternal presence.
Lift up our minds to the pure, bright,
serene atmosphere of your presence,
that we may breathe freely,
there repose in your love,
there be at rest from ourselves
and from all things that weary us:
and thence return,
arrayed in your peace,
to do and to bear
whatsoever shall best please you,
O Blessed Lord.
Edward Bouverie Pusey
"Fear Not The Windy Tempests Wild"
What’s the matter?” said the frightened child.
They told her a squall had struck the ship.
”Is father on deck?” said she.
”Yes; father’s on deck.”
The little thing dropped herself on her pillow again without a fear, and in a few moments was sleeping sweetly in spite of winds or waves.
Fear not the windy tempests wild, Thy bark they shall not wreck;
Lie down and sleep, O helpless child!
Thy Father’s on the deck. —The Biblical Treasury 1873
"May Thy Heart Be As The Bottom of the Sea"
. ...the calm bottom of the sea at its deepest point, which remains calm however high the waves on the surface may be.
Ludwig Wittgenstein