For almost 27 years I have had the privilege and honor of writing the Spiritually Speaking article for
In over 300 articles, I have shared the insights and reflections that have been garnered from an eclectic collection of quotations dealing with the spiritual aspects of life.
As this is my final article for Spiritually Speaking, I have decided to continue my use of the words of people who inspire me. I will share some of my favorite quotations in this space.
“Wisdom and wholeness deepen in us when we reflectively allow ideas and feelings to sit inside us for a while.”
-Joyce Rupp in “Dear Heart, Come Home”
Joyce Rupp’s words have helped me to understand just where so many of the reflections and insights I have written about originated.
When I hear or read something that strikes a chord in me, I copy it or write it down and when I read it again, it generates the core of one of my articles and things that flow from there. When I read the finished article, I often ask myself, “Where did that come from?” It comes from the ideas and feelings that have been sitting inside me for a while.
“Keep learning about the world….Use your mind to the hilt.”
“Life passes quickly and, toward the end, gathers speed like a freight train running downhill.”
“The more you know the more you enrich yourself and others.”
-Susan Trott in “The Holy Man” This is a very challenging thought as one moves into the later years. Yet, I do appreciate the encouragement expressed by Susan Trott. I think of my friends who are experiencing memory loss, even as I forget things. Each of us needs to find just what it is that will help us use our mind to the hilt.
For some it may be travel, for others crossword puzzles, for some learning how to play the piano, and for others taking a college course. I can attest to the fact that life does seem to pick up speed as we age, and I also realize that the more I continue to enrich myself the more I can still enrich others.
“If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned to live.”
-Lin Yutang in Zen and the Art of Anything, by Hal French The Zen way of being and doing is a wonderful contrast to the busy way of life that has been part of my life experience. It brings a spiritual dimension that was not part of my younger years, and I find it most renewing and refreshing in my later years.
It might seem in contrast to what Susan Trott encourages us to do, but learning about Zen may just be one of the ways we keep learning about the world, especially the spiritual world.
I would encourage you to spend a perfectly useless time in a perfectly useless way and see if you agree with Lin Yutang.
Have a Peaceful Holiday Season and a New Year Brimming with JOY *** HOPE ***LOVE.
Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sisterosf.org. ✲
