“She was going about her life, taking her pleasures as she found them, suffering what was hers to suffer, doing what she had to do. She had about her no air of self-pity or complaint. And this could only have been because, in her own heart, she was not pitying herself or complaining.”
Source: Jayber Crow
“It’s in our breath, our touch, our scent.
Messages back and forth, now hundreds a day.
Mostly words of joy, love, but too of lament.”
Source: Alexander and Maria
“I realize now that a happy mother might very well make a joyful child.”
Source: Home to Big Stone Gap
“Joy lasts in memory, it thrives in sharing.”
Source: Runic Book of Days: A Guide to Living the Annual Cycle of Rune Magick
“I cannot shut my eyes and plunge confidently into the absurd; that is for me an impossibility, but I do not praise myself for it. I am convinced that God is love; this thought has for me a primordial lyrical validity. When it is present to me I am unspeakably happy; when it is absent I long for it more intensely than the lover for the object of his love. But I do not believe; this courage I lack.”
Source: Fear and Trembling
“This is the ultimate role of suffering: to facilitate our return to our heavenly Father, Who loves us more than we love ourselves and in Whose presence we will find joy and fulfillment (10)”
Source: Why All People Suffer: How a Loving God Uses Suffering to Perfect Us
“Grief, Yui had once told him, is something you ingest every day, like a sandwich cut into small pieces, gently chewed and then calmly swallowed. Digestion was slow.
And so, Takeshi thought, joy must work the same way.”
Source: The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World
“The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by him?”. God is not the patriarch who stays home, doesn’t move, and expects his children to come to him, apologize for their aberrant behavior, beg for forgiveness, and promise to do better. To the contrary, he leaves the house, ignoring his dignity by running toward them, pays no heed to apologies and promises of change, and brings them to the table. When I look through God’s eyes at my lost self and discover God’s joy at my coming home, then my life may become less anguished and more trusting.”
Source: The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
“suffering leads to wisdom & wisdom leads to joy...hence suffering leads to joy!”
Excerpt From: Ujjwal Arora. “Zen, Coffee & Potpourri”. Apple Books.”
Source: Zen, Coffee & Potpourri: quotes, one liners & ramblings
“When you mourn for too long, you start to forget how to feel joy.”
Source: Exile's Valor