Cold Weather. Or... Not?

An interesting conversation occurred at my house today as my roommate and I were enjoying the beautiful outdoors while doing some work.

Me: "Are you cold out here? I'm FREEZING."

Roommate: "YES. It's cold!

Me: (checking temperature on computer's desktop gadget) "What? 68 degrees?? It has to be colder than 68 degrees."

Roommate: "Well... there's windchill!"

*long pause*

Me: "Do you find it strange that we're talking about windchill for near-70 degree weather?"

Roommate: "Don't be ridiculous! We are SUFFERING here!"

Me: (after checking several online sites for the temperature): The lowest I can find is 65.5.

Roommate: Do you think people would think we're crazy if we bought an outdoor heater?

I think it is safe to say that we have sufficiently acclimated to the Texas climate. :)

Better than Average

"Average feels safe, but it’s not. It’s invisible. It’s the last choice – the path of least resistance. The temptation to be average is just another kind of quitting…the kind to be avoided. You deserve better than average." ~Seth Godin

Metaphor for Life

"After a few weeks of constant work, the bloody blisters gave way to hard-earned calluses that protected us from pain. Long after the fact, it occurred to me that this was a metaphor for life--blisters come before calluses, vulnerability before maturity..." ~Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather's Son, pg.25.

Forgiveness

‎"Forgiveness is not the misguided act of condoning irresponsible, hurtful behavior. Nor is it a superficial turning of the other cheek that leaves us feeling victimized and martyred. Rather it is the finishing of old business that allows us to experience the present, free of contamination from the past." ~Joan Borysenko

On Peace

We cannot be at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we cannot be at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God. ~Thomas Merton

Merton Explained

It seems that if I had kept reading the other day, I would have been able to understand the quote I posted much better. Here is what Ravi Zacharias has to say about Thomas Merton...

After Merton observes how everything within him converged--Bethlehem, Calvary, and the empty tomb, now all within him; God offering himself to God within the mortal frame of this kneeling man--he ends with the key words "the love of those creatures who are drawn to him in and with the power of his own love for himself." The love with which God himself is bound, now binding us to himself. This is the mystery, the majesty, and the grandeur of holy Communion--God's love shed in our hearts to keep us from fragmentation and dissolution.

So beautiful and profound. :)

On God-Dwelling in Us

"In the temple of God that I had just become, the once eternal and pure sacrifice was offered up to the God dwelling in me. The sacrifice of God to God. Now, Christ born in me, a new Bethlehem, and sacrificed in me his new Calvary, and risen in me: offering me to the Father, in himself, asking the Father, my Father and his, to receive me into his infinite and special love--not the love he has for all things that exist, for mere existence is a token of God's love, but the love of those creatures who are drawn to him in and with the power of his own love for himself."

~Thomas Merton (quoted in Grand Weaver, Ravi Zacharias, pg 142).

I have to keep reading this over and over and over... it is so deep, but incredibly profound.