Jon Watts

I am quoted in today's Daily Quaker Message. This is from a blog post I wrote back in 2012, which was a particularly challenging year for me. Then in my late twenties, I was struggling on a number of fronts: vocationally, with community, with relationships, and financially.

And so I was moved when I saw this quote from my past self in the rough drafts for this month's messages on gratitude—it takes extra effort to be grateful when you are struggling to get your basic needs met, yet I have encountered so many people who are facing incredible challenges but the first words out of their mouths are to give thanks. I'm inspired by them and by the fact that, at least for a moment, I was able to do so in one of my darkest hours. Sometimes our past self delivers words of wisdom for us in the present moment.

Giving thanks for pain "Instead of waking up in the morning and thinking about what feels bad and wrong, what I am striving toward and what I don’t have yet, I’m going to focus on what feels good and right, what I am blessed to experience and humbled to witness."

"I find it easy to recognise the presence of the Host. People come to me in tears, telling me of profound transformational experiences, and I stand in awe. I’ve held the space, but the work hasn’t been done by me. My job is to make room for the Spirit to do its work. It is a constantly humbling experience."
— Mark Russ, 2016
Quaker theologian, writer, and teacher

People come to me in tears On leading a Quaker workshop: "I find it easy to recognise the presence of the Host. People come to me in tears, telling me of profound transformational experiences, and I stand in awe. I’ve held the space, but the work hasn’t been done by me. My job is to make room for the Spirit to do its work...

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