It is futile to enter into disputation with any worshipper of the letter, seeing that for the purposes of argument the letter is so much more manageable than the spirit, which while it lies in the letter unperceived, has no force. The letter-worshipper is incapable of seeing that no utterance of God could possibly mean what he makes out of it.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 101, quoting from Donal Grant
Photo: South Riding, Virginia, November 1, 2021
I’ve heard people say they are afraid to love because they might get hurt. I say, get hurt and get it over with! And then keep going. Those songs about mending a broken heart are utter nonsense. A heart is meant to be broken — broken wide open. You do not “mend” a broken heart. You fill in those places with people — and lots of them. Small closed hearts are nothing but trouble. They generate small, closed thoughts. You love in small, insecure ways. Instead, love big. Love wild. And imagine love way beyond romantic fantasies.
— Caroline Myss, Intimate Conversations with the Divine, p. 246
Photo: South Riding, Virginia, November 1, 2021
Forgiveness isn’t something we do for the person who’s hurt us. It’s something we do for ourselves, so we’re no longer victims or prisoners of the past, so we can stop carrying a burden that harbors nothing but pain.
— Edith Eger, The Gift, p. 177
Photo: Donnersberg, Germany, November 8, 2003.
Accept that you do not get to choose who loves you, who keeps their promises, who forgives. But you can choose to love, to keep your promises, to forgive. Choose well. Have — and live — your own say.
KEEP MOVING.
— Maggie Smith, Keep Moving, p. 93
Photo: South Riding, Virginia, August 31, 2021
Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.
— Henri Nouwen, You Are the Beloved, p. 264
Photo: South Riding, Virginia, August 30, 2021
I believe that God is absolutely, grandly beautiful — with the beauty that creates beauty, not merely shows itself beautiful.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 14
Photo: View from Massanutten Storybook Trail, Virginia, August 8, 2021
Love is not something you earn. Love is a gift economy, like poetry. Give it away and receive it graciously. Move on from those who withhold it.
KEEP MOVING.
— Maggie Smith, Keep Moving, p. 92
Photo: View from Burg Rheinstein, Germany, July 1997
Be brave enough to ask for help when you need it. There is no merit badge for Doing All the Hard Things Alone. Reach out.
KEEP MOVING.
— Maggie Smith, Keep Moving, p. 85
Photo: South Riding, Virginia, June 21, 2021
Of one thing I am sure. Complaining is self-perpetuating and counterproductive. Whenever I express my complaints in the hope of evoking pity and receiving the satisfaction I so much desire, the result is always the opposite of what I tried to get. A complainer is hard to live with, and very few people know how to respond to the complaints made by a self-rejecting person. The tragedy is that, often, the complaint, once expressed, leads to that which is most feared: further rejection. . . . Joy and resentment cannot coexist.
— Henri J. M. Nouwen, You Are Beloved, p. 170 (from The Return of the Prodigal Son)
Spend time with — or talk to — someone who loves you exactly as you are. See yourself through their eyes. From this day on, commit to becoming someone who loves you exactly as you are.
KEEP MOVING.
— Maggie Smith, Keep Moving, p. 81