David Benner Quotes & Sayings

Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known. Both, therefore, have an important place in Christian spirituality. There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God. John Calvin wrote, "Nearly the whole of sacred doctrine consists in these two parts: knowledge of God and of ourselves."3 — David G. Benner

It is one of the maxims of the civil law, that definitions are hazardous. — Samuel Johnson

The personal costs of counseling also remind us why it is so necessary for a counselor to experience continuous renewal through Scripture, prayer, and the sacraments. Only when one's own spiritual batteries are being continuously recharged can one hope to have something to give to others. And only in one's own personal walk with the Lord can one find the strength to bear not only one's own burdens but also those of others. — David G. Benner

I'm just a journalist. I shine a mirror to the culture. I give the cop-out answer. — Mark Leibovich

To have ideas is to gather flowers; to think is to weave them into garlands. — Sophie Swetchine

I'm not really a pianist. — Harold Budd

Evil exists because of the disobedience of Satan. God gave Satan, and the angels, and man free will. Satan used his free will and abused it by not obeying authority. Hell was created by Satan's disobedience to God, and his purposeful removal from God's love - which is what hell is. Removing yourself from God's love. You send yourself to hell. God does not send you there. — Stephen Colbert

In its most basic terms Christian spirituality is a relationship with God. Perhaps the most remarkable thing to notice about this Christian God is that is it he who has sought us out, not we him. In fact, anything that we experience as desire for him is simply the result of his Spirit's calling us to himself. Spirituality is the response of spirit to Spirit. — David G. Benner

I thought film was more important than life itself for many years. But I was naive to the world until my first child was born in 1985. — Steven Spielberg

Wise, compassionate and accessible, David Benner's The Gift of Being Yourself is truly a gift to the dedicated seeker. The author draws on his professional experience as a psychologist and his own lifelong vocation as a Christian. The result is a book that felicitously weaves together the insights of psychology and Christian spirituality. — Margaret Guenther

In planning anything, the best place to begin is at the end. What outcome do you want? How do you want the story to end? How do you want to be remembered when you are gone? — Michael Hyatt

Learning to desire God's will is not something we can accomplish by resolve and willpower. It occurs only when we live so close to God's heart that the rhythm of our own heartbeat comes to reflect the divine pulse — David G. Benner

Spiritual friends help us most when they make clear that their job is to point the way, not to lead the way. And the Way to which they should point is Jesus. — David G. Benner

One way leads to acquisition, the other leads to nirvana. Realizing this a mon should take no pleasure in the respect of others, but should devote himself to solitude. — Gautama Buddha

My dad always says to listen for the pauses when you want to know if someone's hiding something. — Gabrielle Zevin

Thirty or forty proprietors, with incomes answering to between one thousand and five thousand a year, would create a much more effectual demand for the necessaries, conveniences, and luxuries of life, than a single proprietor possessing a hundred thousand a year. — Thomas Malthus

This disconnection of being and doing represents a misalignment of our souls that clouds our presence to ourselves and others. — David G. Benner

You stand exactly in the middle, poised between heaven and earth, a human conductor for the energy that seeks to flow between these two polarities. — Margot Anand

Truly transformational knowledge is always personal, never merely objective. It involves knowing of, not merely knowing about. And it is always relational. It grows out of a relationship to the object that is known - whether this is God or one's self. — David G. Benner

Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future. — David Whyte