Battering the gates of heaven with the storms of prayer.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the power of prayer and the persistent effort one must put into seeking divine connection.
Alfred Lord Tennyson's quote poetically illustrates the idea that prayer should be a fervent and relentless pursuit, akin to battering down the gates of heaven with storms. It suggests that true devotion and sincerity in one's prayers can lead to profound spiritual connection and divine intervention, reinforcing the belief that unwavering faith can overcome obstacles.
In practice
During a church service, this quote can be used to inspire congregants about the importance of persistent prayer.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
Every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition, has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food
For neither good nor evil can last for ever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand.
All other ways of mortification are vain, all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit.
If you describe things as better than they are, you are considered to be a romantic; if you describe things as worse than they are, you will be called a realist; and if you describe things exactly as they are, you will be thought of as a satirist.
Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.
We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think as well as we can. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future. I believe we have an obligation to fight for life on Earth - not just for ourselves, but for all those, humans and others, who came before us, and to whom we are beholden, and for all those who, if we are wise enough, will come after.
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