Battering the gates of heaven with the storms of prayer.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the power of prayer and the persistent effort one must put into seeking divine connection.
Alfred Lord Tennyson's quote poetically illustrates the idea that prayer should be a fervent and relentless pursuit, akin to battering down the gates of heaven with storms. It suggests that true devotion and sincerity in one's prayers can lead to profound spiritual connection and divine intervention, reinforcing the belief that unwavering faith can overcome obstacles.
In practice
During a church service, this quote can be used to inspire congregants about the importance of persistent prayer.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
We are reassured almost as foolishly as we are alarmed; human nature is so constituted.
Awareness is ever there. It need not be realized. Open the shutter of the mind, and it will be flooded with light.
Justified or not, the Supreme Court has a kind of sacred status in American life. For whatever reason, Presidents can safely run against Congress, and vice versa, but I think there is an inherent popular aversion to assaults on the court itself. Perhaps it has to do with an instinctive belief that life needs umpires.
Race doesn't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don't have that choice.
I like imagination -- and the way I think things could be, had been, or should be -- better than reality.
O what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the waves of worldly business like the divine path of the Israelites through the sea! There is nothing in which I would advise you to be more strictly conscientious than in keeping the Sabbath day holy. I can truly declare that to me the Sabbath has been invaluable.
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