These are the few ways we can practice humility:
To speak as little as possible of one’s self.
Never to stand on one’s dignity.
To be kind and gentle even under provocation.
To choose always the hardest.
~ Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living

I think that taking life seriously means something such as this: that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false. Whatever is achieved must be achieved with the full exercise of passion, of vision, of pain, of fear, and of sorrow. How do we know, that our part of the meaning of the universe might not be a rhythm in sorrow?
~ Ernest Becker, 1924-1974, Cultural Anthropologist / Author

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.
~ Martin Luther (1483-1546)

The soul is torn apart in a painful condition as long as it prefers the eternal because of its Truth but does not discard the temporal because of familiarity.
~ St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Theologian and philosopher

There’s an invitation to redemption and that our best self found in Jesus is only found to the extent that we can go through our pain, including our pain of anxiety.
~ Curtis Chang, Author, Theologian

It is the dogma that is the drama — not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death — but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death. Show that to the non-believer, and they may not believe it; but at least they may realize that here is something that a man might be glad to believe.
~ Dorothy L. Sayers, 1893-1957, Author, Creed or Chaos? 
(Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster;
Or, Why It Really Does Matter What You Believe)

This Sunday’s readings: Psalm 14

Reflections

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main… Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
~John Donne 1572-1631, English poet, scholar and cleric

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.
~ Proverbs 26:4-5

Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.
~ H.L. Mencken, 1880—1956, Essayist/Satirist

Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your ‘angels’ to sing.
~ August Wilson, 1945-2005, American Playwright

The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.
~ Pema Chödrön, 1936- , When Things Fall Apart, American Tibetan-Buddhist

If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.
~ Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight

If every reference to faith in God were removed from the scripture, would it make any difference to how you live as a Christian?
~ Francis Schaeffer, Pastor, Founder of La Bri