Perfectionism
“When we relinquish the neurotic need to be perfect, we are freed of the pressures of sainthood and can learn from our mistakes instead of being destroyed by them.”
— Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love, p. 32
Category: Life
9 Posts
Love and Self-respect
“Even when no one else seems to recognize how truly remarkable we are, we always have ourselves, the one inexhaustible resource for positive reinforcement, the one person who will always proudly wave our personal flag.”
–Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love:Â Reflections on Loving, p. 16.
One Step at a Time
“God never gives guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps the heart in abiding dependence upon God.”
–C. H. Mackintosh, quoted in Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan
Seeing Clearly
“Often the only way to look clearly at this extraordinary universe is through fantasy, fairy tale, myth.”
–Madeleine L’Engle, Margaret A. Edwards Award Acceptance Speech, June 27, 1998.
Quoted in Journal of Youth Services in Libraries, Volume 12, no. 1, Fall 1998.
God’s Faithfulness
“God’s faithfulness is not incapacitated by human circumstances–even human failings.”
–Pastor Ed Allen, sermon, August 5, 2007.
Letting Go
“I’ve found that when you give up on using your mind to solve a problem–which your mind is holding on to like a dog with a chew toy–writing it down helps turn off the terrible alertness. When you’re not siphoned into the black hole of worried control and playing fretful Savior, turning the problem over to God or the elves in the glove compartment harnesses something in the universe that is bigger than you, and that just might work.”
–Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually), p. 27
“Sometimes, when you’re lucky, you get to a point where you’re sick of a problem, or worn down by tinkering with it, or clutching it. And letting it go, maybe writing it down and sending it away, buys you some time and space, so maybe freedom and humor sneak in–which is probably what you were praying for all along.”
–Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually), p. 32
Again, Brokenness
“We live in the constant astonishment that God uses broken people to minister to broken people.”
–Carol Kent, A New Kind of Normal, p. 220.
Meaning in Pain
“I finally figured out that I had a choice: I could suffer a great deal, or not, or for a long time. Or I could have the combo platter: suffer, breathe, pray, play, cry, and try to help people. There was meaning in pain; it taught you how to survive with a modicum of grace when you did not get what you wanted.”
–Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually):Â Thoughts on Faith
Wise and Funny Anne Lamott
“But I actually knew a few true things: I had figured out that truth and freedom were pretty much the same. And that almost everyone was struggling to wake up, to be loved, and not feel so afraid all the time. That’s what the cars, degrees, booze, and drugs were about.”
–Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually):Â Thoughts on Faith