[W]e are sinners. And we are buffoons. . . .
It is not the level of our spirituality that we can depend on. It is God and nothing less than God, for the work is God’s and the call is God’s and everything is summoned by Him and to His purposes, the whole scene, the whole mess, the whole package—our bravery and our cowardice, our love and our selfishness, our strengths and our weaknesses.
These words are from Elisabeth Elliot’s 1986 epilogue to her book Through Gates of Splendor. I found them while writing a blog post nearly two years ago about her and Steve Saint. Elliot wrote and said so many notable words. These will never be her best known, but they speak deeply to me.
(Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor, Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1986)
[photo: “Trees, Fog and Bench,” by Wayne Dixon, used under a Creative Commons license]
Clearing Customs 