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Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.

Brennan Manning

The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust — not only for all the gifts that I receive from God, but gratitude for all the suffering. Because in that purifying experience, suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.
BRENNAN MANNING

Authentic Character Dominant Experience Flow God Gratitude Intimacy Life Purity Spiritual Trust
When absolute control and rigid obedience pose as love within the family and the local faith-community , we produce trained cowards rather than Christian persons.
BRENNAN MANNING

Control Coward Family Love Obedience Person Training
Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace.
BRENNAN MANNING

God Grace Impression Scripture Try
Whatever we have done in the past, be it good or evil, great or small, is irrelevant to our stance before God today. It is only NOW that we are in the presence of God.
BRENNAN MANNING

Day Evil Goodness Ourselves Past Presence
The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.
BRENNAN MANNING

Age Appearance Goodness Temptation
The Christian with depth is the person who has failed and who has learned to live with it.
BRENNAN MANNING

Deep Failure Learning Live Person
The sorrow of God lies in our fear of Him, our fear of life, and our fear of ourselves. He anguishes over our self-absorption and self-sufficiency… God’s sorrow lies in our refusal to approach Him when we sinned and failed.
BRENNAN MANNING

Failure Fear God Himself Life Lying Sin Sorrow
To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.
BRENNAN MANNING

Acknowledgement God Grace Learning Live Meaning Myself Shadow
Christianity doesn’t deny the reality of suffering and evil Our hope is not based on the idea that we are going to be free of pain and suffering. Rather, it is based on the conviction that we will triumph over suffering.
BRENNAN MANNING

Evil Freedom Hope Idea Ourselves Pain Reality Success Suffering
we unwittingly project onto God our own attitudes and feelings toward ourselves… But we cannot assume that He feels about us the way we feel about ourselves — unless we love ourselves compassionately, intensely, and freely.
BRENNAN MANNING

Assumption Attitude Compassionate Freedom God Projection
Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the Kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever.
BRENNAN MANNING

Encouragement Evil Failure Forever Grace Sorrow Suffering
Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who know they don’t have it all together, and who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.
BRENNAN MANNING

Acceptance Amazing God Grace Spiritual Togetherness Weakness
A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.
BRENNAN MANNING

Difference Experience God Goodness
There is an essential connection between experiencing God, loving God, and trusting God. You will trust God only as much as you love him. And you will love him to the extent you have touched him, rather that he has touched you.
BRENNAN MANNING

Connection Essential Experience God Love Touch Yourself
The spirituality of wonder knows the world is charged with grace, that while sin and war, disease and death are terribly real, God’s loving presence and power in our midst are even more real.
BRENNAN MANNING

Charge Death Grace Hard Time Reality Sin Spiritual War Wonder World
Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself.
BRENNAN MANNING

Freedom Opinion Reality Yourself

Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.

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Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps.

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