Faithbook: 101 Short Inspiring Spiritual Insights

Dedication to the late Reverend Ellis Dupleche and the members of Mount Hermon Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, departed and present-day, who affirmed my call to preach the Gospel by granting me a “Certificate of License” on December 10, 1972, 37 years ago today. Thank you for believing in me.

1. Courageous people hear their fears out; they just don’t let them have the last word.
2. God's peace may not take away your pain, but it will take you through it.
3. Grace is the difference between living from acceptance and living for acceptance.
4. There is nothing spiritual about being all things to all people as soon as possible.
5. FIVE STEPS FOR MAKING A COMEBACK
6. Grieve to flush out the frustration over disappointment.
7. Rest to replenish your strength.
8. Accept new hope rising inside you.
9. Create new dreams.
10. Engage life with fresh energy. Note the first letter of each strategy to identify the great comeback agent that makes all the difference in the world.
11. The words "listen" and "silent" share exactly the same letters. Isn't that something?
12. The greater the challenge; The greater the growth!
13. Overcome Over-Caring In order to grow, we must risk thinking and doing in ways that others cannot imagine, or even find fault with. That is why a great growth agent is the ability to not over-care about what others think or expect.
14. Peace Rinse There are few things in life more deeply, mysteriously, and soulfully satisfying than simply easing back and listening to the rain.
15. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: I now live in grace more consciously and deliberately.
16. Living in grace is letting yourself ride gleefully atop God's shoulders.
17. Unless the change you are going through is causing you at least some mild discomfort, it's probably not worth your time or effort.
18. Don't let others obligate you to being who you used to be or who they prefer you to be. Be true to your transformation!
19. Dance your dream!
20. A heartache is still a life sign.
21. In God’s eyes, you matter as much as anyone else. Can you live with that?
22. The legendary Jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk, was once referred to as “an insistent original.” Can the same be said of you?
23. You cannot make something matter to someone else. Trying to force your meaning down someone's mind is an act of violence.
24. Be the undisputed champion of your dreams!
25. See a person giving you a hard time as your “Professor of Patience.”
26. Having the humility of being a beginner keeps one teachable.
27. Unless you are a slave, the one person who usually keeps you from doing what you really want to do is you.
28. You must not only have the dream; the dream must have you
29. Follow those things that make you feel more fully alive.
30. Don’t forget to live for the fun of it!
31. Massage your mind with mighty thoughts.
32. No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your growth Alice Walker
33. Resist feeling guilty about failing to meet the demands of unrealistic expectations.
34. Life is grand and good because you know it to be so.
35. Do what you believe in; believe in what you do.
36. Deep inner peace is one daring still moment away.
37. Don’t treat anyone better then you treat yourself. Frederick Jesse Jones (My Father)
38. Spiritual zenith is less a great acquisition and more a grand realization: home is within.
39. Divine Lunacy We can be so focused on order and tradition in the church that we fail to appreciate God’s great appetite for divine lunacy and sacred surprise.
40. Rescuing another or oneself sometimes means walking away.
41. Genuine love does not need to be loved in return; it is its own fulfillment.
42. Take time each day to feed your soul with something other than obligation.
43. What if you already have all you truly need?
44. If someone offered you peace which did not depend on the actions of others or the circumstances of life, would you accept it? (See John 14: 27)
45. REAL CHANGE Real change involves more than knowing you need to change and wanting to. As valuable as they are, authentic change transcends awareness and desire. Real change is actually choosing to be different, to live different. And, sustaining true change involves trusting your transformation beyond all fear and suffering.
46. What tries you the most has the power to expand you the greatest.
47. Sometimes you need to schedule the day; and, sometimes you need to let the day schedule you.
48. All souls are bountiful and beautiful, and, uniquely so!
49. Now; Wow! 27
50. Be an ACE: Be Aware, Creative, and Enthused!
51. Lean into your full stature and keep growing.
52. “Wes Montgomery played some impossible things on the guitar because it was never presented to him that they were impossible.” Ronny Scott What great thing aren’t you doing simply because someone told you that it could not be done?
53. I am blessed with bounce-back joy!
54. As a jazz classic is not ashamed to say, “I got it bad and that ain’t good,” we should not be ashamed to say, “I got it good and that ain’t bad.” Own up to your blessings!
55. I SEE MYSELF STRONG AFFIRMATION I am a Child of God, a person of remarkable powers and genius. I wield my wondrous strength in love, peace, and joy. Each day, I dare to see myself strong, and feel the force of God's Holy Spirit, moving mightily within me!
56. Nat Hentoff said of Ella Fitzgerald: "She was daring and invariably secure in her wondrous feats of self-challenges." May St. Ella inspire us all in our daring feats of self-challenges.
57. You can’t do more than your best, but be sure to keep expanding your definition of “best.”
58. If your priorities are no-shows on your schedule, they aren’t priorities.
59. Play your purpose and dance your dream!
60. It’s dangerous to link self-worth solely to what you do for others. You are a human being, not a human doing.
61. Constant availability is not one of the Ten Commandments.
62. Chronic busyness is not a gift of the spirit.
63. God does not need your exhaustion.
64. There is an ocean of grace just waiting for you jump in.
65. What God created in God’s image we have no right to create in ours. Stop trying to make others into your image.
66. Sometimes we need to see things not just from another perspective, but from another’s perspective.
67. You are the C.E.O. of your own Peace.
68. The inner fulfillment we seek is not found in the race; it’s found in the grace
69. We are so used to pushing and being pushed that the grace of an unhurried day may feel strange at first, and, to some, downright sinful. With all due respect, "Go and sin some more."
70. Three-Word Breakthroughs: "I was wrong." "Please forgive me." "I need help." "I am sorry."
71. Rest and Resilience Fatigue is not the only reason for rest. There are many others, including despondency: how we feel when we give our best and our best doesn’t seem good enough, or when the good and the innocent suffer, or when suffering doesn’t want to end. At such times, rest restores and revives us, giving us the energy to keep on keeping on, through it all, and no matter what. Moreover, rest offers to our parched lips and souls what Alice Walker calls “the true wine of astonishment”: We are not over when we think we are.
72. You can’t always depend on others to get your engine started. You’ve got to learn to start your own engine: to daringly aspire, dream, and reach from the inside out.
73. No matter how wisely aware, no one is beyond being thrown off balance by the surprising curves of life. Yet, therein is surprising growth.
74. It is so easy to busy ourselves away from the peace that God so badly wishes to gift us with.
75. Settling things down in your inner world, calms things down in your outer world.
76. Some things worth viewing can only be seen from higher ground.
77. Precious memories should keep you with a sense of moving satisfaction, but they shouldn’t keep you from moving on.
78. Stillness is the original origin.
79. It’s the nothingness that sets up the somethingness.
80. What if all that’s truly worth having is already yours?
81. Dare to befriend your most powerful self.
82. In showing compassion toward others, don’t forget to show compassion toward yourself.
83. A gospel (good news) that does not squarely face the most fierce crushing of the human heart, is not good enough.
84. Have some Morning B.R.E.W.: Be Still. Receive God’s Love. Embrace Yourself and Others. Welcome the Day.
85. No storm lasts forever. And some, mercy on mercy, end sooner than you expect.
86. Don’t ever feel guilty for being tired. Fatigue is your body’s request for rest.
87. Since we see what we know and know what we see, we do well to practice seeing with fresh eyes.
88. Deeper love calls us to love persons beyond the needs they meet and the roles they play in our lives.
89. Resist feeling guilty about failing to meet the demands of unfair expectations.
90. Reach beyond your touchable territory
91. Don’t quit before the miracle.
92. Trust your way through!
93. Problems are opportunities in disguise.
94. I am too blessed to complain!
95. Give your dreams a standing ovation.
96. Look your troubles in the face until they soften and teach you something.