quote for today

"If we are honest, we have to say that we cannot reach the goal. We cannot become what we ought to become, true men and women. Many let the matter rest there; they confess it, but take no action. They make themselves satisfied with half because they cannot have the whole. God demands all, not just half. And this "all" we are not capable of giving. What is impossible for us is what God wants--all love to him and to our fellow humans. If this is true, it would seem that we can have no good conscience, no trusting relationship with God, no inner peace, and no freedom of the soul. "But God has in his mercy shown us a different way. 'You cannot come up to me, so I will come down to you.' And God descends to us human beings. This act of becoming one of us begins at Christmas and ends on Good Friday." --Emil Brunner, "I believe in the living God"