http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes Quotations collected by Sondra Eklund Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:51:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Novelists are geniuses when it comes to looking at trees.  We're very good at staying still and seeing what comes next.... If staring ever becomes an Olympic event I'll be bringing home the gold.  While other people go to work, I stare out the window.  I stare at my dog.  I ... http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/19/novelists/ Verbal abuse defines people in some negative way, and it creates emotional pain and mental anguish when it occurs in a relationship. . . .  Any statement that tells you what, who, or how you are, or what you think, feel, or want, is defining you and is, therefore, abusive.  Such statements ... http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/18/verbal-abuse-defined/ There is no revenge as sweet as living a joyful life. -- Dr. Shirley P. Glass, PhD, NOT "Just Friends" http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/16/the-best-revenge-not-revenge-at-all/ Blame is a way we lie to ourselves.  It is not just a way of refusing to look at who we are or avoiding responsibility.  It is also a defense against knowing our pain.  To face that pain is to begin to mourn what was too overwhelming to be mourned ... http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/15/blame/ Once you buy the evangelical born-again "Jesus saves" mantra, the idea that salvation is a journey goes out the window.  You're living in the realm of a magical formula.  It seems to me that the Orthodox idea of a slow journey to God, wherein no one is altogether instantly "saved" ... http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/15/a-journey-to-god/ Community is an antidote to the poisonous American consumerist "me" and "I want" life that leads to isolation and unhappiness. -- Frank Schaeffer, Crazy for God, p. 389 http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/15/community/ Reading the Bible with others does not mean only that we read together in a small group, or that we read commentaries to benefit from the wisdom of great teachers, or that we listen to the Bible read and reflected on in worship or other gatherings.  It also means reading ... http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/15/reading-the-bible-in-community/ Although we may be beginning to understand that our Story is just a Story and not the Truth, it still can feel a little risky to be tampering with it.  Adaptive beings that we are, we've figured out how to tolerate the limiting story.  We know our way around that ... http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/11/changing-your-story/ If you meet with selfishness, joyfully call it a chance to be unselfish yourself.  Practice the unselfish attitude which is so obviously lacking in some particular person or situation, and lovely, unselfish things will begin springing up all around you.  Instead of saying in thought, "what irritating, thoughtless neighbors," begin ... http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/11/transformation-2/ Story is the closest we human beings can come to truth. -- Madeleine L'Engle, Sold into Egypt, quoted in Glimpses of Grace, compiled by Carole F. Chase, p. 295 http://sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes/2008/11/10/story-2/