Outpost 17

1 Kings 16-18 / John 1:29-51

"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."

― Kahlil Gibran

1 Kings 12-13 / Luke 24:1-50

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

― J.K. Rowling

1 Kings 10-11 / Luke 24:1-35

"Are you capable of forgiving and accepting in love a world which has disappointed you by not being perfect, a world in which there is so much unfairness and cruelty, disease and crime, earthquake and accident? Can you forgive its imperfections and love it because it is capable of containing great beauty and goodness, and because it is the only world we have?...And if you can do these things, will you be able to recognize that the ability to forgive and the ability to love are the weapons God has given us to enable us to live fully, bravely and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world?”

― Harold S. Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People

1 Kings 8-9 / Luke 23:39-56

“Yeah. Beethoven was deaf. Helen Keller was blind. I think Rocky's got a good chance.”

-Adrian, 'Rocky'

1 Kings 6-7 / Luke 23:27-38

“We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work”

― Thomas A. Edison

1 Kings 3-5 / Luke 23:1-26

“Our story is not only about exile and oppression and suffering. It is the story of thriving, of triumph, and of great faith. It is the story of a people that laughs in the face of deepest despair, that stubbornly clings to life and to joy even in the face of horror and death. We take our pain and turn it into poetry. We take our misfortune and transform it into opportunity.”

― Daniella Levy

1 King 1-2 / Luke 22:54-71

“Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

2 Samuel 24 / Luke 22:46-53

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”

~ Abraham Lincoln

2 Samuel 21-22 / Luke 22: 39-46

God, give us grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

2 Samuel 19-22 / Luke 22: 1-38

“The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.”

― Søren Kierkegaard