Something happens when life changes suddenly. Life looks different than it used to. Values change; conversations change; perspectives shift. We use our time differently. People become much more precious to us than possessions. Ordinary moments become charged with significance and with the energy of eternity. Prayer weaves its way into this tapestry, creating moments of reflection and gratitude. Prayer becomes a spiritual velcro to which other things stick. What seems to be a loss on one level gets transformed into gain on another level. Prayer enables us to see every moment as a gift and as an occasion to be cherished.

(Steve Harper, Talking in the Dark, p. 84) 

We do not have to have health restored in order to have hope. We do not have to cling desperately to life in this world when we see life in relationship to the world to come. This life is not all that there is. More awaits us, and prayer makes it possible for us to catch a glimpse of eternal life. Prayer becomes a means of grace that enables us to loosen our had on time so we can put our hands on eternity.

(Steve Harper, Talking in the Dark, p. 85)

The world is rated R, and no one is checking IDs. Do not try to make it G by imagining the shadows away. Do not try to hide your children from the world forever, but do not try to pretend there is no danger. Train them. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous. Make them yeast, and when they’ve grown, they will pollute the shadows.

(~N.D. Wilson, Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World)

...suddenly we were the needy ones. We couldn’t care for our other boys. We couldn’t water the tomatoes or go make a pot of coffee. We didn’t have any meals for ourselves or our children at home... And how could I ask for help when I’m positive I’ve failed at being a giver?... Then He answers this request in the funniest way. He allows me a position where I’m able to do nothing. Then He surrounds me with the dearest friends and family, some of whom have the very least in time, physical stamina, sleep, emotional wherewithal and material possessions. He shows me how they stop and sit with me and my children in my not-enoughness... One friend laid next to me on the hospital bed for a while. I had no idea at the time how just having her sit right next to me helped my heart. I look back and remember our legs right there together, backs against the pillows. We were laughing. She has no idea. None of them know.

(~from inCourage website, Amber C. Haines, “Why It’s Okay to Not Be Enough”)

Do not ask your children 
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable, 
but it is the way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder 
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting 
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry 
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure 
in the touch of a hand.
And made the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.

(W. Martin)

Who, being loved, is poor?

(~Oscar Wilde)

And thus, without a wing,
Or service of a keel,
Our summer made her light escape
Into the beautiful.

(~Emily Dickinson)