Whatever one of us asked the other to do - it was assumed the asker would weigh all the consequences - the other would do. Thus one might wake the other in the night and ask for a cup of water; and the other would peacefully (and sleepily) fetch it. We, in fact, defined courtesy as 'a cup of water in the night'. And we considered it a very great courtesy to ask for the cup as well as to fetch it.
Sheldon VanaukenIt is not possible to be 'incidentally a Christian.' The fact of Christianity must be overwhelmingly first or nothing. This suggests a reason for the dislike of Christians by nominal or non-Christians: their lives contain no overwhelming first but many balances.
Sheldon VanaukenIt is, I think, that we are all so alone in what lies deepest in our souls, so unable to find the words, and perhaps the courage to speak with unlocked hearts, that we don't know at all that it is the same with others.
Sheldon VanaukenReligiously, we longed for the lively life in Christ, but we did not fully see that we were equally longing for the lively life of the mind - the delights of conversation at once serious and gay, which is, whatever its subject, Christ or poetry or history, the ultimately civilized thing.
Sheldon VanaukenBut Love is the final reality; and anyone who does not understand this, be he writer or sage, is a man flawed in wisdom.
Sheldon VanaukenNot only are we harried by time, we seem unable, despite a thousand generations, even to get used to it. We are always amazed at itโhow fast it goes, how slowly it goes, how much of it is gone. Where, we cry, has the time gone? We arenโt adapted to it, not at home in it. If that is so, it may appear as a proof, or at least a powerful suggestion, that eternity exists and is our home.
Sheldon Vanauken