Saints

What is a saint? Is it the parent who loved us even when we were self-centered and disrespectful? Is it the teacher who notices and encourages our strengths? Is it the religious leader who prays so eloquently?

Frederick Buechner has written about saints in a variety of ways, all of them interesting.

"The world is always bewildered by its saints." The Magnificent Defeat

"In his holy flirtation with the world, God sometimes drops a handkerchief. Those handkerchiefs are saints."  Wishful thinking: a theological ABC

"To be a saint is to be a little out of one's mind, which is a very good thing to be a little out of from time to time. It is to live a life that is always giving itself away and yet is always full."

Early November is the time of year when we think about the "saints" who have gone before us. We give thanks for the love they have shown, their words of kindness and instruction, the many ups and downs they have shared with us. We remember their deep faith.

"On All Saints' Day, it is not just the saints of the church that we should remember in our prayers, but all the foolish ones and wise ones, the shy ones and overbearing ones, the broken ones and the whole ones, the despots and tosspots and crackpots of our lives who, one way or another, have been our particular fathers and mothers and saints, and whom we loved without knowing we loved them and by whom we were  helped to whatever little we may have, or ever hope to have, of some kind of seedy sainthood of our own."  The Sacred Journey

Pictured are some of my saints.

Who are your saints?