{"id":4533,"date":"2010-06-18T07:38:18","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T07:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/quote-of-the-day-i-write-for-spiritual-reasons.html"},"modified":"2010-06-18T07:38:18","modified_gmt":"2010-06-18T07:38:18","slug":"quote-of-the-day-i-write-for-spiritual-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/quote-of-the-day-i-write-for-spiritual-reasons.html","title":{"rendered":"Quote of the day: &#8220;I write for spiritual reasons&#8230;&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I have a very unsophisticated relationship with Jesus. I do not have one interesting theological thought in my head. I just feel him, and did from the beginning: I feel the intense love he has for us, especially when we are suffering, and I feel his delight in me, which is something most of us are starved for most of our lives, and I feel his unwavering companionship. I feel his purity and goodness, and I see it wherever people are suffering, and others show up to help. I see Christ Crucified in the world&#8217;s abject poverty and despair and unfairness, how horrible horrible horrible it is for most people, and when I see this, I desperately want to be there beside him, helping in any way I can. Maybe just bringing a glass of water, or sitting there breathing with him, like you sit with someone in child birth.<\/p>\n<p>Everything I write is for spiritual reasons&#8211;to help people keep their spirits up, to help transform misery into laughter or healing, to help people remember the truth of their spiritual identities. I try to shine a little light in the world, to be the light for whomever is there, whether at the market, or in a bookstore. It is my spiritual calling. I do a very meager job most of time, but this is my intention.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div align=\"right\">&#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anne_Lamott\">Anne Lamott<\/a>, in an interview <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.speakingoffaith.org\/post\/690028909\/anne-lamotts-imperfect-birds\">here.<\/a><br \/>I haven&#8217;t loved all her work, but I still cherish <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Traveling-Mercies-Some-Thoughts-Faith\/dp\/0385496095\">&#8220;Traveling Mercies,&#8221;<\/a> a modern classic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I have a very unsophisticated relationship with Jesus. I do not have one interesting theological thought in my head. I just feel him, and did from the beginning: I feel the intense love he has for us, especially when we are suffering, and I feel his delight in me, which is something most of us&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quote-of-the-day"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Quote of the day: &quot;I write for spiritual reasons...&quot; - The Deacon&#039;s Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/quote-of-the-day-i-write-for-spiritual-reasons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quote of the day: &quot;I write for spiritual reasons...&quot; - The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;I have a very unsophisticated relationship with Jesus. I do not have one interesting theological thought in my head. I just feel him, and did from the beginning: I feel the intense love he has for us, especially when we are suffering, and I feel his delight in me, which is something most of us&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/quote-of-the-day-i-write-for-spiritual-reasons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-18T07:38:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jmcgee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Quote of the day: \"I write for spiritual reasons...\" - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/quote-of-the-day-i-write-for-spiritual-reasons.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Quote of the day: \"I write for spiritual reasons...\" - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","og_description":"&#8220;I have a very unsophisticated relationship with Jesus. 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