To confess your sins to God is not to tell [God] anything [God] doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.
Frederick BuechnerRead
If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is the frame we see them in.
Interpretation
What this quote means
To truly love others, we must look beyond their appearances and understand the deeper essence of their lives.
In this quote, Frederick Buechner emphasizes that genuine love for our neighbors requires us to perceive them deeply and empathetically. It suggests that seeing someone involves more than just observing their outer appearance; we must engage our imagination and emotional awareness to appreciate their experiences, struggles, and humanity. Love, according to Buechner, serves as the lens through which we must view others, allowing us to connect with their inner lives and foster authentic relationships.
Themes
LoveNeighborsCompassionEmpathyUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting, you could share this quote to encourage deeper connections among neighbors.
More from Frederick Buechner
All quotes →By and large a good rule for finding out is this: the kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work a) that you need most to do and b) the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement b).
Frederick BuechnerRead
When you remember me, it means you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.
Frederick BuechnerRead
We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go. We become something new by ceasing to be something old. This seems to be close to the heart of that mystery. I know no more now than I ever did about the far side of death as the last letting-go of all, but now I know that I do not need to know, and that I do not need to be afraid of not knowing. God knows. That is all that matters.
Frederick BuechnerRead
To be wise is to be eternally curious.
Frederick BuechnerRead
if you don't have doubts you're either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants-in-the-pants of faith. They keep it alive and moving.
Frederick BuechnerRead
Similar quotes
Oh, my Margaret--my Margaret! no one can tell what you are to me! Dead--cold as you lie there you are the only woman I ever loved! Oh, Margaret--Margaret!
Elizabeth GaskellRead
She was humbled, she was grieved; she repented, though she hardly knew of what. She became jealous of his esteem, when she could no longer hope to be benefited by it. She wanted to hear of him, when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet.
Jane AustenRead
You who have inhabited me in the deepest and most broken place, are going, going
Anne SextonRead
It's not so much that he can't fall in love, but he has not the weakness necessary.
Leo TolstoyRead
This is perhaps the best feeling in the world. I love going to sleep at night and wondering what weird and wonderful dreams I'm going to have however I always prolong sleep as long as possible, immeasurably happy simply listening to the sound of my fiancees breathing and feeling his arms around me. It's when you fall in love with these little things that you know you're truly in love.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
In one kiss, you'll know all I haven't said.
Pablo NerudaRead