Notes from the President’s Desk – July, 2019
This month’s column is selected quotes I have used over the last two years. I hope that you will enjoy them, reflect upon them, and be moved to action by those that are most meaningful to you.
“This is no time for a casual faith.”
– Susan Frederick-Grey, UUA President
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.”
– Benjamin Franklin
“I slept, and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke, and I saw that life is all service. I served and saw that service is joy.”
– Kahlil Gibran
“Good endings make for good beginnings.”
– A phrase that I first heard at the UUCV.
“Want what you have.
Be who you are.
Do what you love.”– Rev. Dr. F. Forrest Church
“You all are on the front lines – providing ministry and leadership to people of all ages, helping us all not to lose our humanity in this very inhumane time, helping us all not to lose hope. Today, as I awoke, the words of Adrienne Rich were on my heart:
“My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power
reconstitute the world.”
“My fellow leaders, I cast my lot with you. We will not give up hope.”– Susan Frederick-Gray
“Our Deepest Fear
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”– Marianne Williamson
Living in Paradise,
Bryan Buck, UUCV Board President