“[Dig] deep, …carefully cast forth the loose matter and get down to the rock, the sure foundation, and there hearken to the divine voice which gives a clear and certain sound.” John Woolman When John Woolman described our need to “cast forth the loose matter and get down to the rock, the sure foundation” he …
Author: aswayopens
Next Path to Walk
In my early years, there was a saying on the refrigerator: “Fear knocked, faith answered, no one was there.” As I have journeyed through life, I have gone back to that adage numerous times. The fear part has always been with me since I grew up in a fear-based atmosphere. The faith part, however, has …
Friends and Truth
The Truth is Continuously Revealed When reflecting on the idea of truth, it occurs to me that, in my experience, people tend to define it as whatever they want it to be – whatever is convenient. The Truth for which we must strive is from the Spirit; it requires an openness to divine will, no …
Prophetic Witness: Spiritual Relevance
So shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth… Isaiah 58:11 I think Friends must step up and step into their charge of prophetic witness by first asking how Quakers are relevant today. Why did we choose to be Friends? What brought us here, kept us here, gave us pause, made us question …
To Witness as God Wants
Photo by Belinda Fewings “There must be always remaining in every life, some place for the singing of angels, some place for that which in itself is breathless and beautiful.” –Howard Thurman Being ‘in the world but not of it’ is a path Friends have sought to walk for generations, and I’m not quite sure …
Cracked Cisterns
Two sins have my people committed; they have forsaken me, a spring of living water, and they have hewn themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13 photo by Alvis Taurens Lately, I have been struggling with finding a “place for the singing of angels” (Howard Thurman) in my life. Both the …
Connections Regardless
They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.@SoPlainlyJane Connections with others, especially during this pandemic and the political upheaval of these past months/years, have been difficult to maintain. However, we are connected to each other regardless of external evidence to the contrary. I am reminded of this fact when the challenge lies …
Integrity Guides Our Way Forward as Friends
I think whatever gets one to a place of sanity (that does not harm self or others, of course) is essential right now. We are living through a constant assault with all the bad news and truth about how depraved people are--that kind of barrage of info provides the mortar for trauma, and most of …
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Spirit of God
“Everything, all beauty and rightness, seems to turn upon a right subordination of the outward to the inward, the transient to the permanent, in our lives and thoughts. Yet this right subordination cannot be achieved in a hurry. If we are to learn to assign to the weightiest matters their true place and predominance, we …
Abiding in the Light
“And dwell in that which is pure of God in you, for fear that your thoughts get forth, and then evil thoughts get up, and surmising one against another, which arises out of the veiled mind, which darkens the pure discerning. But as you dwell in that which is of God, it guides you up …
As Way Opens 