One of the things we find when we examine closely the lives of great spirits is that the strategies, actions and events which are so likely to preoccupy our attention were really not their own main concern. True, they undertook everything they did with mindfulness. But they also understood that if a person in his inward nature is not great, then all his cleverness, all his stratagems, will come to nothing. They believed that we should be concerned not so much with what we do as with what we are. They were more interested in cultivating an inward rebirth than they were in designing their public strategies. And they saw the works of service and of social change in which they engaged, and which so captivate our attention, essentially as the outward expression of an inward condition, an expression which flowed naturally, as fragrance does from a flower. Their work was simply an inner condition made visible.
--Dan Seeger, Practicing the Gospel of Hope in the Nuclear Age (Philadelphia: Wider Quaker Fellowship, 1983), p. 2.
Doesn't that nicely sum up what a testimony is supposed to be for Friends? I think so.
3 comments:
Yes!!! It sums it perfectly.
GMC
Jesus Christ said we must seek first God's Kingdom and God's Righteousness. We were also commanded to test ourselves and to test the spirits but that is not possible until we obey the first command. anne robare / canawedding at aol dot com
GMC: Glad you agree! Dan has a way of pulling together words beautifully.
Anne: Thanks for your comment. I've responded to your longer comment on the previous quote from Dan Seeger.
-- Chris M.
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