From an interview by Alanna Nash with Amy Grant, AARP Bulletin, September 2024:
What's the best way to motivate ourselves? My first mother-in-law taught me a prayer. She said,
"Lord, lead me today to those I need and those that need me."
I said, "Man, what a way to approach a day:
'Lead me to those I need and those that need me.'"
~ Amy Grant
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”
~ Alice Walker
“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, the second of The Lord of the Rings trilogy
"If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him;
for you are worse than he thinks you to be."
~ Charles Spurgeon
“The principle cannot be denied: the fiercer the struggle against the injustice you suffer, the blinder you will be to the injustice you inflict. We tend to translate the presumed wrongness of our enemies into an unfaltering conviction of our own rightness.”
~ Miroslav Volf
"To triumph fully evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned. After the first victory, evil would die if the second victory did not infuse it with new life.
~ Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory
“The practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance.”
~ Miroslav Volf
“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long without overcoming this double exclusion — without transposing the enemy from the sphere of the monstrous… into the sphere of shared humanity and herself from the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness. When one knows [as the cross demonstrates] that the torturer will not eternally triumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity and imitate God’s love for him. And when one knows [as the cross demonstrates] that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself in the light of God’s justice and so rediscover one’s own sinfulness.”
~ Miroslav Volf
“Whatever the reasons, when forgiveness happens it is always a miracle of grace. The obstacles in its way are immense.”
~ Miroslav Volf
"I know you think you understand what I said,
but what you don't understand is that
what I said wasn't what I meant."
"If your Lord calls you to suffering, do not be dismayed, for He will provide a deeper portion of Christ in your suffering. The softest pillow will be placed under your head though you must set your bare feet among thorns. Do not be afraid at suffering for Christ, for He has a sweet peace for a sufferer."
~ Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian, one of the original Scottish Covenanters, and had an integral part of the writing of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Westminster Catechism
“Sometimes our ‘stop-doing’ list needs to be bigger than our ‘to-do’ list.”
~ Patti Digh
Gwyneth Paltrow on being a stepmom to husband Brad Falchuk’s kids:
“I really like to talk about this because it’s one of my biggest learnings as a human being. And my area of growth personally came from the initial difficult relationship I had with my step-kids, and now they’re like my kids.”
She added, “I just learned to try to just keep shining like the sun and never keeping score.”
Marie Claire.com, 3/7/2024
https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/gisele-bundchen-on-being-a-stepmother/
