โฆthough I wouldnโt have admitted it, even to myself, I didnโt want God aboard. He was too heavy. I wanted Him approving from a considerable distance. I didnโt want to be thinking of Him. I wanted to be freeโlike Gypsy. I wanted life itself, the color and fire and loveliness of life. And Christ now and then, like a loved poem I could read when I wanted to. I didnโt want us to be swallowed up in God. I wanted holidays from the school of Christ.
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 VanaukenSigns must be read with caution. The history of Christendom is replete with instances of people who misread the signs.
Sheldon VanaukenIf it's half as good as the half we've known, here's Hail! to the rest of the road.
Sheldon VanaukenA man in the jungle at night, as someone said, may suppose a hyena's growl to be a lion's; but when he hears the lion's growl, he knows damn well it's a lion.
Sheldon VanaukenWhatever 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 Vanauken