Ryan Bailey
“The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting.” -Andy Warhol Every year, right when December 1st hits, I start to get excited. Christmas is my favorite holiday season and there is nothing better than it getting colder, days getting shorter, drinks getting warmer and the glow of lights going up in our neighborhood. Even…
“If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ?” -Thomas Ă Kempis I’m a planner. I like to make plans, I like when I’m in the process of fulfilling the plans, I like looking back on the plan and seeing that it was exactly what I expected. You would…
“We tend to perceive what we expect to perceive.” -David G. Martin In my reading this week I came across a short paragraph about pushing people toward experience. The quote above reflected one of the many ways we resist leaning into our experiences by relying more on our expectations and faulty perceptions. To prove this…
“You are wounded in relationships. You are healed in relationships.” -Dr. Jason Hayes My professor said this statement the other day in class as we were discussing how we experience brokenness in community. If I had it my way, community would only be about the good things: the ways I feel encouraged – the moments of fun…
“Although we are weeping Lord, help us keep sowing The seeds of Your Kingdom, For the day You will reap them Your sheaves we will carry, Lord, please do not tarry All those who sow weeping will go out with songs of joy.” -Psalm 126 (Molly Parden – Bifrost Arts) I am often struck by how little the heroes of our faith were…
“Many people are good at talking about what they are doing, but in fact do little. Others do a lot but don’t talk about it; they are the ones who make a community live.” -Jean Vanier In last week’s blog I talked about the tension we all feel as we exhaust ourselves by filling our schedules, while…
“Community is only being created when [its members] have recognized that the greatness of man is to accept his insignificance, his human condition and his earth, and to thank God for having put in a finite body the seeds of eternity which are visible in small and daily gestures of love and forgiveness.” -Jean Vanier Have…
“The mystery of one man is too immense and too profound to be explained by another man.” -Henri Nouwen This past week, I’ve been thinking a lot about stories. I believe we are made for stories and we respond on a deeper level to stories than we would to straight facts and figures. The stories…
“Healing is impossible in loneliness; it is the opposite of loneliness. Conviviality is healing. To be healed we must come with all other creatures to the feast of Creation.” -Wendell Berry I’m reading through Acts this month. I’m always looking for new ways to refresh my views of community building and intentional living. I can’t imagine…
“As soon as we are alone,…inner chaos opens up in us. This chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again…We often use the outer distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. This makes the discipline of solitude all the more important.” -Henri Nouwen This week if I…