John Townsend Trowbridge Quotes

…the big picture of our spiritual growth is not an event but the development of the habit of relationship with God.

Connecting with others during difficult times makes the trials more bearable.

Whatever our situation, we feel some sense of confusion, anxiety, and helplessness. At the same time, we think about God and wonder where He is.

I keep some portion of my early gleam;
Brokenly bright, like moonbeams on a river,
It lights my life, a far illusive dream,
Moves as I move, and leads me on forever.

Where do you go when hard times hit? Most of the time, our tendency is to enter our internal cave…we naturally shut down, withdraw from it all, and try to figure things out on our own, reemerging from life when we have some sense of centeredness.

For me the diamond dawns are set
In rings of beauty,
And all my ways are dewy wet
With pleasant duty.

Trust in and value the benefit of God’s compassion and identification.

We want to know that life is good. Not perfect but good. Not problem free, but good. Good in some way that we did not anticipate. Good in some way that connects us to God, others, and our purposes in life.

It is easy to think that we should put up a brave front and stay positive about all our struggles. But that is not the biblical model.

Darius was clearly of the opinion
That the air is also man’s dominion,
And that, with paddle or fin or pinion,
We soon or late
Shall navigate
The azure, as now we sail the sea.

If you will observe, it doesn’t take
A man of giant mould to make
A giant shadow on the wall;
And he who in our daily sight
Seems but a figure mean and small,
Outlined in Fame’s illusive light,
May stalk, a silhouette sublime,
Across the canvas of his time.

…there is something beyond our circumstances, and that is an emotional, from-the-heart connection to God, no matter what is going on in our lives.

With years a richer life begins,
The spirit mellows:
Ripe age gives tone to violins,
Wine, and good fellows.

I can’t keep count of the times when I have seen how hard times make people much more relationally accessible than they were before their difficulty.

The birds can fly,
An' why can't I?