brian shivers

She stole my heart at first sight.      Her beauty.      Her grace.      Her eyes.      Her voice.      Her smile. But she didn’t need to hold it captive. She gave it back to me in complete trust knowing that I needed it to love her fully. This is the risk of true love.   — bshivers

Think a life of judgement, accusal, condemnation, and self-righteousness is difficult? Try a life of love, grace, acceptance, and selflessness. One way is broad and easy; one is narrow and treacherous. One way leads to division and death; one brings unity and life. It is not the task of humanity to decide who is wrong, what is holy, who is out, who will never measure up. Rather to be human means to strive for affirmation of personhood, embracing the ever-present sacred, unmitigated inclusion, building one another up.   — bshivers

Let us remember Divine breath fills you, fills me, And the space between.   — bshivers

Shedding the old skin; Constrained ways now left behind; Behold a new life.   — bshivers

The seemingly incessant attempt to partition off grace, as if somehow it needs a protector or a self appointed gate keeper, to keep the worthy in and the unclean out, is nothing more than narcissism and delusions of grandeur disguised as personal piety and religious rightness. Grace is only grace if it is available to all - no matter who, no matter what, no matter where. And that is good news, indeed.   — bshivers

If I allow myself to understand you as an abstraction, it becomes much easier to minimize your needs. If I allow myself to perceive you as a generalization, it becomes much easier to justify my prejudice. If I allow myself to regard your life as an oversimplification, it becomes much easier to confirm my bias. If I allow myself to see you as you, it becomes much easier to discover humanity.   — bshivers

Being other focused is difficult, time consuming, thoughtful, an act of faith, and life giving. Being self-centered is easy, quick, mindless, faithless, and deadly.   — bshivers

You are not enough. You have no right. You are not good. You cannot do that. You are not worthy. You will never make it. Are among the sinister lies we tell ourselves; we are told; we buy; we believe; we live into; we become. These are nothing but false narratives that lead us away  from our own  miraculous, magnificent existence. Hear this truth instead. Because you exist the universe will never be the same.   — bshivers 

let us be people of wells      not walls; bridges      not trenches; tables      not fences; toward      not from; with      not against; together      not separate; for people let us be.   — bshivers

Today, take time to listen   to the depth      of the sorrows,       of the joys,      of the regrets,      of the hopes,      of the pain,      of the dreams,      of the despair,      of the longings,      of the fears, of someone else reminding them that they are not      alone in this human experience; neither are you; neither am I. This is       incarnation.

We fill our spaces, our minds, our lives with Noise; everywhere, all the time. Even our time alone has become Noise. Even our relationships have become Noise. Even our worship has become Noise. We claim to enjoy it. “It makes me happy,” we say. “It fills me with joy,” we claim. “It gives me a distraction,” we declare. And indeed it does. The Noise distracts us from the depth found in one another, ourselves, the divine. The depth is what frightens us most. So we fill it with Noise. Until all that remains is the shallows. Yet, it is in the depths we discover life. It is in the depths we find beauty. It is in the depths we realize us. It is time we find the courage to silence the Noise.   — bshivers

To all the women, and all the girls who one day will be, never doubt   your strength,   your courage,   your power to change the world. The universe is born everyday through   your imagination,   your determination,   your dreams,   your resilience. The weight of the world, the ceilings of glass, the small mindedness cannot   hold you down,   silence your voice,   steal your personhood,   stop your influence. You are stronger in your broken places, and everyone best take notice, because YOU ARE HERE!   -- bshivers

We must not accuse God of being loving unless we  are willing    to admit,   to confess,   to proclaim this love is for  everyone, not just for us, not just for those who   think,   believe,   behave,   live,   look,   love just like we do. Or do we need   the convenience,   the comfort,   the ease of a graven divinity  that   thinks,   believes,   behaves,   lives,   looks,   loves just like we do? Do we? The question then remains, who is creating whom?   — bshivers

shh listen you are accepted you are loved you are enough yes, you are shh listen

What if... we all took one pledge; just one, this one; to stand up for the humanity of one another, in all circumstances, no matter what? Why      is this such a threat? Why      isn't this our aim? What if... we could rely on one another to do just that? What if...   — bshivers

breathe... rest... feel... Do not dismiss this, your human experience. It is here that we are met by the divine between us, within us. You have nothing to prove to yourself, to anyone else. You are human; that is enough.   — bshivers