sadness and joy

"Our life is a short time in expectation, a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment… Joy and sadness are born at the same time; both arising from such deep places in your heart that you cannot find the words to capture your complex emotions."

Henri Nouwen

trust

It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.
Confucius

This is as deep a truth as there is. To be deceived is among the worst of human experiences; but distrust withers friendship, and we need friendship in order to become fully human.

Friendship brings longevity and joy to our loves: marriage blooms in it. In friendship, family connectedness can thrive without throttling.

Friendship freely says, "I'd rather risk being a fool than hoard my heart behind fortress walls."

TRANS|plant|action|formation

Transplant Transaction Transformation

Look at God’s declared intent in this lovely couplet: the equation contains three additions and one subtraction.

"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh."
Ezekiel 11:19, NIV

{PLUS} Integration (undivided heart)
Meaningfully constellating our fragmented souls

{PLUS} Inspiration (new spirit)
Breathing into us a second wind

{MINUS} Petrification (heart of stone)
Stone became set in its ways a long time ago
It would rather break than bend
It’s incompatible with breath and blood

{PLUS} Corporeal Reanimation (heart of flesh)
Flesh is pliable, vulnerable
And capable of growth
It’s a suitable habitat for life