In our days of prosperity it is more difficult to sustain a religious spirit than in times of adversity, because we are apt to forget that God who has bountifully given may also take away.
And she’d felt an opening in her chest where she hadn’t known anything was closed.
A person comes into the world with a fist-and a grasp. Yes, we are built to fight one another, but also to embrace. How cleverly we are created.
There are two kinds of hope: the kind you couldn’t do anything about and the kind you could. And even if the kind you could do something about wasn’t what you’d originally wanted, it was still worth doing. A rainy day is better than no day. A small happiness can make a big sadness less sad.
Silence made space for other people’s words, which was important for those who needed to be listened to.
A rainy day can actually be a very important day. And a small hope isn’t really small if it makes a lost hope less sad.
Happiness, I have grasped, is a destination, like strawberry Fields. Once you find the way in, there you are, and you’ll never feel low again.
When I speak of religion I mean a constant inward sense of communion with God...
The reactions of others were actually another lesson she’d learned about change. When change happened to an individual, it happened to everyone around her – sometimes in ways she wished for, though sometimes in ways she wished against.
Martha giggled; the baby was holding her. Astounding. A person comes into the world with a fist – and a grasp, she thought. Yes, we are built to fight one another, but also to embrace. How cleverly we are created.
Looking back in time was very exciting to me. But looking forward is more challenging – nothing unfolds as you anticipate, and it’s the small things, not the huge geologic shifts, that make or break you.
Just because I am not a saint does not mean that I am a demon.