prayer is meaningful but undefined

•wisdom•memorial•meaning of life•hope•relationships•guidance

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There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.

J. R. R. Tolkien

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Prayer of the Loving Kindness (Metta Bhavana) Practice

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Greek Orthodox Prayer

artwork by Abbott Handerson Thayer

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Afterglow I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one, I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done. I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days. I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun of happy memories that I leave behind when day is done. -Helen Lowrie Marshall

artwork by Abbott Handerson Thayer

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“By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is bitterest.”

-Confucius 

artwork by: Domenico Tintoretto,  Léon François Comerre, Antonio Ciseri

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Prayer for Friendship

You have blessed us, O God, with the gift of friendship, the bonding of persons in a circle of love. We thank you for such a blessing: for friends who love us, who share our sorrows, who laugh with us in celebration, who bear our pain, who need us as we need them, who weep as we weep, who hold us when words fail, and who give us the freedom to be ourselves. Bless our friends with health, wholeness, life, and love. Amen.

artwork by Samuel Luke Fildes

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artwork by Dean Cornwell

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Nicholas II & Empress Alexandra Feodorovna || They were destined for each other, and their love was the load with which God had chosen to burden and to crown them, as the greatest trial and greatest gift for their hearts and souls. Years failed to blight the youthful vigour of their love, and their attachment, matured and ingrained, proved unaffected by all storms and stresses that befell them. { The Romanovs Love, Power and Tragedy }

To love and to care not when amarants fade 

On earth be bathed in sunshine or shade ! 

To love and to be loved again 

Whatever the joy, whatever the pain. 

To love and to tell it on soft summer eves 

Amid the rustling of green summer leaves,

 To feel sweet moments vanish away 

And to know there is still so much to say. 

To love as we love in the bye and bye, 

Together to live, together to die. 

One hope, one faith, both loyal and brave 

Through life heart to heart, side by side in the grave.

Poem by Alix of Hesse for Nicholas, 1894.

[gloosoli]

Starry Night Over the Rhone, Vincent van Gogh.

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i think van gogh saw something great in that night sky

in all the stars and shining lights, i see hope for something more

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“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

-C. S. Lewis

fresco by Andrea Pozzo

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“And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all we call human history- money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery- the long terrible history of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

-C. S. Lewis

artwork by: Evert Collier, Eugene Delacroix, Jaques Louis David, Averyanov Alexander, Eugene Lami , Thomas Cole, Eyre Crowe

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artwork: Sun by Edvard Munch

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Almighty God, Author of life, Lord of all creation, from whom comes the beauty of each flower bud and every new born child. Thank you for your everlasting forgiveness and eternal hope. You turn the pages of our lives, filling everyday with forgiveness, erasing our failings and encouraging us to try again. You are the author of life, who brings fresh expectation into each day. Come flood this heart with your hope. Amen.

Artwork by Alphonse Mucha

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There is a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond all of us, beyond the heavens, beyond the highest, the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our hearts.

- Chandogya Upanishad

artwork: Nocturne in Black and Gold by James Whistler

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One of my favorite historical anecdotes is as follows:

Tsar Nicholas II, described as being a gentle, kind, and humble man by all who had the chance to meet him, was often approached by peasants and commoners with petitions on his daily outings, and every time he would go out of his way to make sure they were fulfilled. There is one story, where he was called upon late one evening by General Orlov who brought with him a crying and distraught young woman with a petition for the Emperor to save the life of her fiance who had been arrested for participation in revolutionary activities, though he had tried to withdraw from them. Nicholas came out in his pajamas to hear the girl’s story. At this time the monarchy was under extreme threat from revolutionary parties who used violence to try to bring about change in Russia (whose political system was deeply flawed and Nicholas simply did not have the political ingenuity to do anything about it) but without hesitation he immediately wrote a letter of pardon and ushered Orlov to deliver it, saying, “I thank you very much for acting the way you did. One must never hesitate when one has the chance to save the life of a man”.