Author Archives: vincentsmithauthor

Don’t wish them happiness

Lisa Grunwald, writing in the Los Angeles Times, made a plea to all parents who want more than anything for their children to be happy. “Don’t wish them happiness,” she says. “Wish them goodness, energy, humour, brains, diligence, discipline, even … Continue reading

Posted in children, direction, Faith, Inspirational, Life's journey, Living Life, Personal Growth, Religion, Spiritual Insight, Spirituality, Trials and testings, Unselfishness | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When you’re not cured but are healed

Tony Campolo once received a telephone call from a woman who, in a church service the previous Sunday, had asked him to pray for her husband who was riddled with cancer. The call was to tell him her husband had … Continue reading

Posted in angry with God, Bitterness, Faith, God, Healing, Hope, inner peace, Inspirational, Life's journey, pilgrimage, Prayer, Religion, Spiritual Insight, Trials and testings, Trust in God, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Never cry over anything that can’t cry over you

When Sophia Loren, broken hearted, sobbed to movie director Vittorio De Sica over the theft of her jewelry, he gave her this advice: “Listen to me, Sophia. I am much older than you and if there is one great truth … Continue reading

Posted in Appreciation, Bible, inner peace, Inspirational, Life's journey, Living Life, Personal Growth, Riches, satisfaction, Spiritual Insight, Sympathy and Support, Trials and testings, wealth, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s not how much you have

A friend who grew up in Japan told me that in traditional Japanese society it was considered preferable to own one thing of beauty rather than many, because if you own one thing you will look at it and truly … Continue reading

Posted in emptiness, Inspirational, Life's journey, Living Life, Personal Growth, pilgrimage, satisfaction, Spiritual Insight, thankfulness, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Promise

In John Bunyan’s great parable of life, the Pilgrim’s Progress, there’s a point where Christian and Hopeful are captured by the Giant Despair, locked in the dungeons of Doubting Castle and beaten unmercifully. But at dawn on Sunday, after days … Continue reading

Posted in Bible, Encouragement, Faith, God, Hope, inner peace, Inspirational, Peaceful Sleep, Promise, Religion, Spiritual Insight, Spirituality, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble, Trust in God, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Life is Greater than Death

I came across a wonderful story about a London parish church during the Blitz, which was all set up for the annual Harvest Thanksgiving Service next day. The front of the church was filled with whatever foodstuffs were still available, … Continue reading

Posted in Encouragement, Faith, Food, God, Inspirational, love, Religion, Resurrection, Spirituality, thankfulness, Trials and testings, Trust in God, War | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

But What Does He Think About You?

I had an interesting discussion with the librarian on a cruise ship recently. He noticed I’d checked out a book by the one-time atheist and now Oxford professor of theology, Alistair McGrath, entitled ‘The Dawkins Delusion’, a parady on the … Continue reading

Posted in Alistair McGrath, Atheism, Faith, God, Inspirational, Religion, Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, Trust in God, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

God Shaped Holes

Sigmund Freud thought that religion is not about people finding God but people creating God. God, he claimed, is a projection of our needs and insecurities. Commenting on the bleakness of this view Freud said “I can offer people no … Continue reading

Posted in Faith, God, inner peace, Inspirational, Life's journey, Living Life, Personal Growth, Religion, Spiritual Insight, Spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s not about where we are, but where we’re heading

Oliver Wendell Holmes said: ‘I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must … Continue reading

Posted in direction, Encouragement, Faith, God, Hell, inner peace, Inspirational, Journey, Life's journey, Living Life, old age, Personal Growth, pilgrimage, Spirituality, Trust in God, Wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Divine Intelligence

A few years ago scientists in Arizona tried to set up an isolated living environment that would be a self contained microcosm of life on earth, containing soil, air, water, plants and animals. They called it Biosphere 2 and it … Continue reading

Posted in creation, Faith, God, Inspirational, Intelligence behind the Universe, Living Life, Religion, Spiritual Insight, supreme being | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment