I seek the lessons God wants to teach me, and that means that I ask why.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of seeking understanding and lessons from life's challenges and experiences.
Elisabeth Elliot highlights the value of inquiry in personal growth and spiritual development. By questioning the circumstances we encounter, we open ourselves up to learning and divine guidance, transforming challenges into opportunities for wisdom and insight.
In practice
In a speech about personal development during a workshop.
We are not asked to SEE," said Amy. "Why need we when we KNOW?" We know--not the answer to the inevitable Why, but the incontestable fact that it is for the best. "It is an irreparable loss, but is it faith at all if it is 'hard to trust' when things are entirely bewildering?
Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer.
What sort of world might it have been if Eve had refused the servants offer and had said to him instead, βlet me not be like God. Let me be what I was made to be - let me be a woman'?
Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship ''in spirit and in truth.'' Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.
Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.
If your goal is purity of heart, be prepared to be thought very odd.
We judge of man's wisdom by his hope.
A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing
They are sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing.
Anybody who has something sensible or worthwhile to say should be able to say it calmly and soberly, relying on the words themselves to convey his meaning, without resorting to yelling.
Next time you're tempted to be upset, frustrated, offended, remind yourself, it's a part of that ten percent of things in life that you can't control - but you can control how you respond.
Zen is not interested in high-flown statements; it wants its pupil to bite his apple and not discuss it.
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