{"id":9714,"date":"2026-04-09T23:11:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/?p=9714"},"modified":"2026-04-09T23:11:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:11:35","slug":"step-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/?p=9714","title":{"rendered":"Step Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dulaney4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dulaney4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dulaney4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dulaney4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dulaney4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dulaney4-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dulaney4-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As I age, I am more drawn to those who speak honestly to me.  Nomatter how bitter the pill, no matter how long it takes to work, I do ant this medicine.  Give me your truth and allow me to determine whether it is the right remedy for me.  Time will reveal its efficacy.<\/p>\n<p>I would rather hear a truth from a friend, and adjust my behavior accordingly, than meet the reactions of cold consequence which could be much more harsh.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it&#8217;s time to turn that old line from the prayer book around to read, &#8220;Speak now and try never to hold your peace.&#8221;  Speak if you must, absolutely.  Speak and then step back.  Give room.  They are God&#8217;s to teach, God&#8217;s to hold, God&#8217;s to heal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Margaret Dulaney, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/to_hear_the_forest_sing.html\">To Hear the Forest Sing<\/a><\/em>, p. 103-104<\/p>\n<p>Photo: Bluebells at Bull Run Regional Park, Virginia, April 3, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I age, I am more drawn to those who speak honestly to me. Nomatter how bitter the pill, no matter how long it takes to work, I do ant this medicine. Give me your truth and allow me to determine whether it is the right remedy for me. Time will reveal its efficacy. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,37,43,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-compassion","category-connection","category-friends","category-letting-go"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9716,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9714\/revisions\/9716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderquotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}