Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Kelly Quindlen

Quote by Kelly Quindlen

“Hannah,” Ms. Carpenter says softly. I think we all hide from God sometimes. We all have things we’re ashamed of. The essential thing is that you work through it.” “How am I supposed to do that?” Ms. Carpenter turns her head from side to side, her eyes glazed over in thought. “You refuse to be imprisoned by that shame. You realize that you are good – you are good because God made you – and you claim that goodness.”

Quote by Kelly Quindlen

Book:Her Name in the Sky
Create image

Work

Her Name in the Sky

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Kelly Quindlen

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Kelly Quindlen. more

You May Also Like

“What was the secret of this joy? The secret is found in another word that is often repeated in Philippians: It is the word mind. Paul uses mind ten times, and also uses the word think five times. Add the time he uses remember and you have a total of sixteen references to the mind. In other words, the secret of Christian joy is found in the way the believer thinks—his attitudes. After all, outlook determines outcome (p. 18).”

ThinkingJoyWiersbe
Book:Be Joyful (Philippians): Even When Things Go Wrong, You Can Have Joy
Create image

“Love starts with loving and accepting yourself as you are. Loving yourself and selfishness are two different things. To love and accept yourself does not mean to be narcissistic and obsessive with yourself. A basic love and acceptance for yourself are a basic phenomenon to learn to love other people. It is only then that you can really love somebody else. Accept yourself, love yourself, because you are God's creation. There has never been anybody like you, and there will never be anybody like you. You are a unique creation of God, and without you God's symphony would be less. Acceptance creates the climate and atmosphere out of which love grows. Love is only possible when there is a deep acceptance of yourself, a deep acceptance of others and a deep acceptance of existence. Then for the first time, life is happening in your lifeand God is happening in your life. That is what life is all about. The moment you love and accept yourself as you are, you begin to trust yourself, you begin to trust others and you begin to rust existence. When you accept yourself, you begin to accept life. When you reject and condemn yourself, you also rejectlife. If you reject yourself, you are also rejecting God. If you accept, yourself, you also accept God. Then whatsoever happens is God. Then life is good and death is good, then love is good and alonenessis good. But you have been conditioned to not love and accept yourself. Your mind has been poisoned not to love and accept yourself, which creates a tension in you between who you are and how you should be. This creates a tension and anguish in people. Humanity has lived in this tension, anxiety and worry for centuries. All societies and cultures have socialized and taught you an ideal of how to be, which has to be fulfilled. Nobody has ever told you that you are valuable, loveable and a beautiful being as you are. To love and accept yourself as you are is the most difficult thing in the world, because it goes against your socialization, your education and your culture. You have been told how to be by your parents, teachers, politicians and priests. You have been programmed to never love and accept yourself as you are and always strive to get better and improve yourself. When you stop trying to improve yourself to fulfill the ideal of how you should be, in that acceptance life starts flowing through you. When you don't judge and condemn yourself, you flower and life starts caressing you. The whole existence starts pouring its energy into you when you are open. Accepting yourself is prayer. Accepting yourself is gratitude to life. Accepting yourself is to relax into your being, which is how God wants you to be. Accepting yourself is to be who you are. Then life showers its gifts on you abundantly, which we could not receive before because we felt that we were not worthy to receive them. Acceptance is the door to God, to live God in your life.”

LoveLifeGodJoyRelationshipsLove YourselfAccept Yourself
Book:Meditation: A Love Affair with the Whole - Thousand and One Flowers of Silence, Love, Joy, Truth, Freedom, Beauty and the Divine
Create image

“Love is the path, and love is the goal. Love is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Love is the first step and the last step. Love contains the whole of religion. But love has to be understood. Love is not lust, it is not a desire to get something from anybody. Love is an overflowing joy. Love is sharing. Love is freedom. Love is creativity. When you love you want to enrich the world. You want to make the world a little bit better and beautiful. When you do not know love, you become destructive. Then you become poisonous. Love means that you are grateful to existence. And out of that gratefulness, you want to contribute to existence. Love is prayer. Love is thankfulness. Slowly you move higher into the world of love. New dimensions of love start opening up to you. Love is no more a relationship, but you are simply loving. Love makes the whole existence one. Love opens the realization that existence is one ultimate unity, and only with unity can webe blissful, eternal and deathless. That is our true reality, that is your very being. To discover it is the whole purpose of life.”

WorldLoveLifeJoyReligionRelationshipsFreedomGratefulness
Book:Meditation: A Love Affair with the Whole - Thousand and One Flowers of Silence, Love, Joy, Truth, Freedom, Beauty and the Divine
Create image

“Existence loves us. Otherwise we would not be here. Life is a gift of God. It is not our choice to be here, we have been chosen to be here by existence. It is a decision by the whole. Existence goes on giving us gifts on all levels: physical, psychological and spiritual. A meditator has to remember that existence goes on pouring so many gifts, and that he has not thanked it by contributed anything in return. Real gratitude to existence is expressed by creativity. When we create something in return to enhance existence, we start being creative by showing gratitude. In our own way we are participating with God. It can be a song, a painting or to make people happy and creating more happy and smiling faces. It is to make a little change in the world, and create a better and more beautiful world. If we can create something out of gratitude to existence it brings joy. Creativity is the way of prayer.”

LoveLifeJoyPrayerExistenceCreativity
Book:Meditation: A Love Affair with the Whole - Thousand and One Flowers of Silence, Love, Joy, Truth, Freedom, Beauty and the Divine
Create image

“He was beautiful. No, handsome. Crylonian people call men handsome and not beautiful, she corrected herself. The word was harsh - it felt like she should grab pieces that could contain him. She always disagreed. Beautiful was more ethereal. It reminded her of light and sun, something you couldn’t quite grasp or hold on to, nothing you could explain but just feel. He was like that. Beautiful.”

LoveBeautifulHappinessJoyLove QuotesHandsomeCalmnessAppreciationtion
Book:In Unknown Ways
Create image