tending the garden of the soul

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focus on the Beloved

“People are always in a hurry, rushing from one place to another.

They have to be here, the next hour they have to be there and the hour after that they will have to be someplace else. To remind themselves of their many obligations, they have to write them down. With all this running around it is a good thing they still remember their names! They do not even recognize themselves! No wonder! It is so difficult to see yourselves mirrored in murky waters. May God forgive me, but the world has become a huge madhouse! No one thinks of the next life anymore. All they want is more and more material goods.   This is why they can not find peace and run around constantly.”

Saint Paisios the Athonite

teach a child in the way he should walk

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molding our children

“When from a young age a child becomes filled with Christ, goes to church with his parents, communes, chants, prays – later on when he gets older, leaves home and end up possibly in an unfavorable environment, it’s not difficult for him.  It’s like wood which has been drenched in linseed oil.  Afterwards, it doesn’t absorb water; since the oil protects it, it won’t take in water and it repels it.”

Saint Paisios the Athonite

the gift of parenting

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Is it not strange that we send our children to learn skills and to school, and make a lot of effort for this purpose, but we do not bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4)?

We are actually the first to reap the fruits of this.

Saint John Chrysostom

the priceless image of God

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image and likeness preserved

“If artists who make statues and paint portraits of kings are held in high esteem, will not God bless ten thousand times more those who reveal and beautify His royal image?  For man is in the image of God.  When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle and to be forgiving — all attributes of God: to be generous, to love their neighbor, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls and reveal the image of God within them.”

Saint John Chrysostom

“He [Father Maximos] went on to summarize the key themes of Eastern Orthodox spirituality: that God is love and that human beings made in the image of God are also love in their very depth. Therefore, to be truly healthy means to think, feel, and act in conformity with our innermost nature.”

Kyriacos C Markides
Inner River: A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christian Spirituality

magnificence

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God does not have limits

Beholding beauty, the Staretz would look at the clouds, the sea, mountains and forests, meadows and a lone tree.

He used to remark that the glory the Creator shone with splendor even in this visible world, but to behold the glory of the Lord Himself in the Holy Spirit was vision infinitely transcending any human conception.

Saint Silouan the Athonite

ineffable joy

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ineffable joy

This is the paradise of the Lord:  All will live in love, and their Christ like humility will make every man happy to see others in greater glory.  The humility of Christ lives in the lowly ones – they are glad to be the least of men.

Saint Silouan the Athonite

sweeter Grace

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sweetest Grace

When we love someone, we like to think about that person, talk about him, be with him.  Now the soul loves the Lord as her Father, and Creator and stands before Him in awe and in love. In awe because He is the Lord, in love because the soul knows Him for her Father.

 

Saint Silouan the Athonite