REMEMBERING NELSON MANDELA ON RESILIENCY

EVERGREEN TREE ON TOP OF THE STONE MOUNTAIN 
STONE  MOUNTAIN, GA
(elevation is 1686 ft and 825 ft around sourrounding area)-

"Difficulties break some men but make others. 

No axe is sharp enough 

to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, 

one armed with the hope

 that he will rise even in the end."


"Everyone can rise 
above their circumstances and achieve success 
if they are dedicated to and passionate about 
what they do."

 "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,
 but the triumph over it. 
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, 
but he who conquers that fear."

"Do not judge me by my successes,
 judge me by how many times I fell down 
and got back up again."

-NELSON MANDELA-

May our visions and life directions be enriched and our spirits be inspired
by the rich legacies that he lived and shared with us all!

AUTHENTIC SYMPATHY

                AUTHENTIC SYMPATHY AS BEING ATTUNED TO GOD

"This moving awareness of God's 

cares and sorrows concerning the world, 

the Prophet's communion with the divine 

in experience and suffering, 

is of such evident and striking power and authority, 

evincing such complete surrender and devotion, 

that it may offer a basic understanding of religious existence.

 Perhaps it is in sympathy that the ultimate meaning, 

worth and dignity of religion may be found. 

The depth of the soul becomes the point 

where an understanding for God 

and a harmony with transcendent possibility spring to birth.

This, perhaps, is the reward and distinction 

of prophetic existence: to be attuned to God. 

No one knows the measure of such intensity, 

the degree of such accord. 

It is more than a feeling. 

It is a whole way of being. 

In contrast to ecstasy, with its momentary transports,

 sympathy with God is a constant attitude."

- Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophet-