When the heart is ready for a fresh beginning, unforeseen things can emerge. And in a sense, this is exactly what a beginning does. It is an opening for surprises. Surrounding the intention and the act of beginning, there are always exciting possibilities.
— John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 5
Warning: Forgiveness and opening up to more abuse are not the same thing. Forgiveness has to do with the past. Reconciliation and boundaries have to do with the future. Limits guard my property until someone has repented and can be trusted to visit again. And if they sin, I will forgive again, seventy times seven. But I want to be around people who honestly fail me, not dishonestly deny that they have hurt me and have no intent to do better. That is destructive for me and for them. If people are owning their sin, they are learning through failure. We can ride that out. They want to be better, and forgiveness will help. But if someone is in denial, or only giving lip service to getting better, without trying to make changes, or seeking help, I need to keep my boundaries, even though I have forgiven them.
— Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, Boundaries, p. 263
Happy women know that a good attitude, valued relationships, and a meaningful life are the central ingredients for happiness.
— Dan Baker, PhD, and Cathy Greenberg, PhD, What Happy Women Know, p. 237
I’ve started to realize that waiting is an art, that waiting achieves things. Waiting can be very, very powerful. Time is a valuable thing. If you can wait two years, you can sometimes achieve something that you could not achieve today, however hard you worked, however much money you throw up in the air, however many times you banged your head against the wall.
— The Courage to Change by Dennis Wholey
. . .
We don’t have to put our life on hold while we wait. We can direct our attention elsewhere; we can practice acceptance and gratitude in the interim; we can trust that we do have a life to live while we are waiting — then we go about living it.
— Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, p. 293
When life kicks us in the stomach, we want someone to be with us as we are, not as he or she wishes us to be. We don’t want someone trying to make us feel better. That effort, no matter how well intended, creates a pressure that adds to our distress.
Why is it so difficult to simply give ourselves to each other when things are hard without yielding to the urge to give relief, to help, to try to make things better?
— Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams, p. 123-124
In conclusion, let me ask you to hold in your mind traditional Christian visions of the future, in which many, perhaps the majority of humanity, are excluded from salvation forever. Alongside that hold the universalist vision, in which God achieves his loving purpose of redeeming the whole creation. Which vision has the strongest view of divine love? Which story has the most powerful narrative of God’s victory over evil? Which picture lifts the atoning efficacy of the cross of Christ to the greatest heights? Which perspective best emphasizes the triumph of grace over sin? Which view most inspires worship and love of God bringing him honor and glory? Which has the most satisfactory understanding of the divine wrath? Which narrative inspires hope in the human spirit? To my mind the answer to all these questions is clear, and that is why I am a Christian universalist.
— Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist, p. 176-177
Being a success will not make you happy, but being happy will make you a success.
— Bernie Siegel, MD, Love, Magic & Mudpies, p. 56
That’s the heartening news for those of us on a spiritual path. We don’t have to do what we always did! We don’t have to think the way we always thought. We don’t have to expect what we always expected.
— Karen Casey, Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, p. 19-20
God has graciously allowed some of my fears to come true so I would discover I would not disintegrate.
— Beth Moore, Praying God’s Word Day by Day, p. 285
The emotional opposite of resentment is forgiveness. However, forgiveness does not mean condoning or overlooking the offense. It does not mean reconciling with someone who has hurt you. Neither does it require that you forego legal procedures of justice.
Forgiveness means letting go of the compulsion to punish, in the realization that we cannot harm others, particularly those we love or have loved, without harming the self.
— Steven Stosny, Manual of the Core Value Workshop, p. 74