“We have natural aptitudes for the spiritual life, just as we have for walking and talking, but in each case the natural aptitudes and longings can only be fully realized with the caring support of others. That process of encouragement and nurture is the teaching-learning process, education. Our work, as educators, as parents, as humans, is to help nourish the spiritual life in ourselves and in others.”
“Be zealous that education shall be continued throughout life. Willingness to be used in mind as well as in body, and to be equipped in both, is a needful part of Christian character. Our service to God is incomplete without the contribution of the intellect….”
September 2026: Quaker practice encourages us to be lifelong students of truth, from within and from all sources. This month explores what early Friends thought about spiritual and academic education, how Quaker teachers approach their vocation today, and what it means to be a seeker.
“If we want to champion truth, the first step on the road is knowing why we want to do it. We need to commit to it as a way of life. It may start with a particular issue, an injustice, or a cause, or it might be a desire to be closer to God by living in and with the truth and its challenges.”
“The first that enters into the place of your meeting…turn in thy mind to the light, and wait upon God singly, as if none were present but the Lord; and here thou art strong. Then the next that comes in, let them in simplicity of heart sit down and turn in to the same light, and wait in the spirit; and so all the rest coming in, in the fear of the Lord, sit down in pure stillness and silence of all flesh, and wait in the light….”
“Believing that God can show us the way, we should maintain a strong faith, one which can affect the consciousness of others. To be able to affect the consciousness of others, we must of necessity be prepared to sacrifice ourselves, making our bodies a part of the effort.”
“Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center…Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming. We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well.”
“My dear hearts, be faithful every one in your particular measure of God’s gift which he hath given you, and on the invisible wait in silence and patience, and in obedience to that which opens to the mystery of God and leads to the invisible God, which no mortal eye can reach unto, or behold.”
“Value just being. [Just being] is active, not passive. Being still is not ‘failing’ to move forward; things are happening in the seeming stillness… valuable things like rest, recovery, happiness; feeding body, heart, mind, or spirit; a period of calm before a time of use of energy; growth; learning; tasting and steeping in the truths and realities.”
“[The Lamb] puts spiritual weapons into [his subjects’] hearts and hands: their armor is the light, their sword the Spirit of the Father and the Son; their shield is faith and patience; their paths are prepared with the gospel of peace and good will towards all the creation of God. …All that are faithful have their armor on, ready day and night to follow the Lamb, as he moves, counting nothing hard to undergo…. And this is love indeed to lay down all for such as are yet enemies.”
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