David Given Schwarm

Married, Father, United

Tag: Prayer

  • XI–Lust


    I am going to work more on relying on my quick wittedness this week. I need to work more on trusting my own inner vision.

  • 9. Te: Virtue

    The greatest virtue is like water;
    it is good to all things.
    It attains the most inaccessible places
    without effort.
    Therefore it is like Tao,
    which has the virtue of adapting itself.

    Like the heart, it is virtuous by being deep,.
    Like speech, it is virtuous when it is quiet.
    like choice, it is virtuous in equanimity.
    Like a servant, it is trustworthy.
    It flows quickly sometimes,
    and at other it trickles.
    Like action it has its seasons.
    And because it does not strive
    it has no enemies.

  • Kontakia of Romanos, On the Forty Martyrs of Sebasteia I.


    Long ago, the wily one cast his weapon and wounded Adam and killed him; Indeed, he completely destroyed the weak man. But now, even if he struck the bodies of the noble men, he did not destroy their spirits. He persuaded the first-created man to fall by words, but not even by deeds, the noble ones. Bewitching the former, he made promises; he made offers to the latter: For Adam, the making of a god; for the martyrs, honor. He offers what he does not have; he suggests bestowing things not in his authority. Therefore, saints, having shattered his scheme, You gained crowns.

  • 22. Harmony

    A hurricane will not outlast the morning,
    a heavy rain will not outlast the day.
    Who has the power to hurry things?
    If Heaven and Earth do not hurry them,
    what shall a person do?

    If one is in accord with Tao in all things,
    one is identified with Tao.
    Whosoever is identified with Tao,
    Tao receives with gladness.

    One who is identified with virtue,
    the virtuous empower.
    And one who is identified with vice,
    the licentious gladly serve.

    When one is in accord with Tao,
    one is met with trust.

  • Sayings of the Desert Fathers

    It was said about John the Little that one day he said to his
    older brother: I want to be free from care and not to work but to
    worship God without interruption. And he took his robe off, and
    went into the desert. After staying there one week, he returned to
    his brother. And when he knocked at the door, his brother asked
    without opening it: Who is it? He replied: It’s John, your
    brother. The brother said: John has become an angel and is not
    among people anymore. Then he begged and said: It’s me! But his
    brother did not open the door and left him there in distress until
    the next morning. And he finally opened the door and said: If you
    are a human being, you have to work again in order to live. Then
    John repented, saying: Forgive me, brother, for I was wrong.

  • Six of Disks–Success


    Make sure that others profit from your abundance. That is much more tricky then most people think. The chances to be seen as patronizing, to be taken as pompous–lacking in humility, etc, even of making fun of people are all very very high.

  • 11. Usefulness of Nothing

    The thirty spokes of a carriage wheel
    uniting at the nave
    are made useful by the hole in the center
    where nothing exists.
    Vessels of molded earth
    are useful by reason of their hollowness.
    Doors and windows
    are useful by being cut out.
    A house is useful because of its emptiness.
    Thus we use what is not
    to make use of what is.

  • 36. Going Abroad

    one may know the world
    without leaving home.
    Through every window
    one can see the supreme Tao.
    The further afield one goes
    the less likely one is to find it.

    Therefore the Sage
    knows the world without traveling,
    sees all by looking within,
    and accomplishes everything
    without doing anything.

  • Vi–The Lovers

    <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1JE3hllIxO8/R5TZwtcJr5I/AAAAAAAAAQE/3zGzZSBx8F4/s400/thlovers.JPG" border="0"
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    This is a good card for me this week. Unity of love–the notion of completion. Also, the concept trust and loving without judgment.

  • St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ


    There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and
    unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the twinkling of
    an eye. Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles
    are accomplished, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for
    God’s Mystery is always accomplished, even though we were
    incredulous or unbelieving at the time of its celebration. “Shall
    their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” (Rom. 3:3).
    Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and
    mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God’s wisdom, nor
    our infirmity God’s omnipotence.