Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance's Reviews > Yes, and...: Daily Meditations

I could have underlined everything.

The spiritual gift of discernment (1 Corinthians 12:10) is when seemingly good things can be recognized as sometimes-bad things, and seemingly bad things can also be seen to bear some good fruit. Discernment has largely been undeveloped among ordinary Christians, except among the Jesuits. It invites people into what I call Yes/And thinking rather than simplistic, either/or thinking. This is the difference between merely having correct information and exhibiting the true spiritual gift of wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8). Both knowledge and wisdom are good, but wisdom is much better. It demands the maturity of discernment, which is what it takes to develop a truly consistent ethic of life. I admit, the vast majority of people are not there yet. Once you have learned to discern the real and disguised nature of both good and evil, you recognize that everything is broken and fallen, weak and poor—while still being the dwelling place of God: you and me, your country, your children, your marriage, and even your church and mosque and synagogue. That is not a put-down of anybody or anything, but actually creates the freedom to love imperfect things! As Jesus told the rich young man, “God alone is good!” (Mark 10:18). In this, you may have been given the greatest recipe for happiness for the rest of your life. You cannot wait for things to be totally perfect to fall in love with them, or you will never love anything. Now, instead, you can love everything!

Rohr, Richard. Yes, and...: Daily Meditations (p. 205). Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.

When Christians pretend that every line in the Bible is of equal importance and inspiration, they are being very unlike Jesus.

Jesus consistently ignored or even denied exclusionary, punitive, and triumphalistic texts in his own Jewish Bible in favor of passages that emphasized inclusion, mercy, and honesty.

God becomes more a verb than a noun, more a process than a conclusion, more an experience than a dogma, more a personal relationship than an idea. There is Someone dancing with you and you no longer need to prove to anyone that you are right, nor are you afraid of making mistakes. Another word for that is faith.

Literalism is the lowest and least level of meaning in a spiritual text. Willful people use Scripture literally when it serves their purposes and they use it figuratively when it gets in the way of their cultural biases. Willing people let the Scriptures change them instead of using them to change others.

God loves you so that you can change. What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change, is the experience of love and acceptance itself.

You are never holy enough, pure enough, refined enough, or loving enough. Whereas, when you fall into God’s mercy, when you fall into God’s great generosity, you find, seemingly from nowhere, this capacity to change. No one is more surprised than you are. You know it is a total gift.

I believe that we have no real access to who we really are except in God. Only when we rest in God can we find the safety, the spaciousness, and the scary freedom to be who we are, all that we are, more than we are, and less than we are. Only when we live and see through God can everything belong.

I believe that we have no real access to who we really are except in God. Only when we rest in God can we find the safety, the spaciousness, and the scary freedom to be who we are, all that we are, more than we are, and less than we are. Only when we live and see through God can everything belong.

Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am. Be still and know. Be still. Be.