Bonhoeffer on gratitude

"It's a strange feeling to be so completely dependent on other people; but at least it teaches one to be grateful, and I hope I shall never forget that. In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. Its very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe to others."

Letter to his parents from prison, 13 September 1943. Part of a series seeking a spirituality for lockdown and Covid.

Bonhoeffer on letting go

What we cannot do, we must now simply let go of and limit ourselves to what we can and should do, that is be manly and strong in trust in God in the midst of our suffering. I expect you know that song by Hugo Wolf:

By night, by night

Come joy and grief,

And before you’re aware,

Both leave you

And go to tell the Lord

How you have borne them.

(Letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Hans Von Dohnanyi, 5 April 1943, from prison. Continuing a series of excepts in search of a spirituality for lockdown based on Bonhoeffer's prison letters).