Jan Karon Quotes

As worthless as guilt was known to be, he couldn't help feeling it, seeing his wife work herself to exhaustion for a parish tea that would last only two hours.

I have just four words to leave with you. Four words that have spoken volumes of truth into my life.'
He wanted the words to stay in the room, to remain long after he had gone. Though no one wished to hear Paul's radical injunction, it had to be told.
'In everything, give thanks.'
This was the lifeboat in any crisis. Over and over again, he had learned this, and over and over again, he had to be reminded.

But "common sense is not faith," Oswald Chambers had written, "and faith is not common sense.

There's nothing trite about being consoled in a world that does everything in its power to deliver sorrow.

In his bachelor's heart of hearts, he loved pie with an intensity that alarmed him. Yet, when he was offered seconds, he usually refused. "Wouldn't you like another piece of this nice coconut pie, Father?" he might be asked. "No, I don't believe I'd care for anymore," he'd say. An outright lie!

She lay quiet, looking at the ceiling. 'I wish the peace to come back,' she said.

'He himself is the peace. He comes if we invite him, and stays, if we ask. It's ourselves who wander away.'

'Why do we wander away?'

'Its the old free-will business - we're charmed by the self, by our own pointless self-seeking.'

'What does he want from us?'

'He wants us to ask him into our lives, to give everything over to him, once and for all.'

'I can't imagine.'

'I couldn't either. I heard it preached and talked about all my life. I exegeted Romans and memorized vast amounts of scripture before I was twelve years old, but somehow it went in one ear and out the other - I got the bone, but not the marrow. Long after becoming a priest, I remained terrified of surrendering anything, much less everything. And then one day I did.'

'Why?'

'Because I could no longer bear the separation from him.'

She licked her dry lips. 'You said there would be nothing to lose.'

'And everything to gain.'

'I don't wish to be humiliated.'

'By God?' He took the lid from the balm and moistened the swab.

'By anyone, and especially God.'

'God does not humiliate the righteous. He may fire us in the kiln to make us vessels, crush us like grapes so we become wine - but he never humiliates. That is the game of little people.'

'I have always depended on

So here is what my advice would be: If God has given you a dream, you'd better get cracking because He wants you to use it. That's why He gives them to us in the first place.

Go and be as the butterfly!
Dooley grinned. You've said that as long as I can remember. I'm not pulling up what it means.
It was what God had said to him, a small-town clergyman, another lifetime a go, and what he had tried and was still trying to do.
I think it means to go unfettered by cares, by the infernal bondage of the mortal. Go with a light heart, trusting God and giving thanks. Go and gather unto yourselves so you can pour out to others.
He took a deep breath. Go without looking back.

How could he do possibly want to do this fool thing?…Maybe it wasn't about wanting or not wanting. Though he was beyond serving the mission field, wasn't his own town a mission field?…And didn't charity begin at home?

I grew up hearing words like snakeroot, sassafras, mullein - things that had wondrous, mysterious sounds in their names.

It was a wonderful life. To have a stage play right in this room, with real people acting real parts.

I can't say I have any confidence in confidence. I have confidence that God is with us in all things, both tender and tough.

You love him, I can see it."
"More than anything."
That alone should be enough, he thought, but of course it never is. Courage has to come in there somewhere, and perseverance and forbearance and patience and all the rest. A job of work, as Uncle Billy would say, but worth it and then some.

MITFORD BOOKS BY JAN KARON At Home in Mitford A Light in the Window These High, Green Hills Out to Canaan A New Song A Common Life In This Mountain Shepherds Abiding Light from Heaven Home to Holly Springs In the Company of Others Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good

When the trees and the power lines crashed around you, when the very roof gave way above you, when the light turned to darkness and water turned to dust, did you call on Him?
When you called on Him, was He somewhere up there, or was He as near as your very breath?

In World War One, they called it shell shock. Second time around, they called it battle fatigue. After 'Nam, it was post-traumatic stress disorder.

I try to put my heart out there to everybody. They don't have to be Christian. For example, I have lots of Jewish readers. I love my Jewish readers.

He remembered the gravestone of a woman parishioner in the churchyard of St. John's in the Grove. DEMURE AT LAST, it read. He thought that the single most definitive and amusing epitaph he'd ever come across.

For fog was merely a cloud that wasn't too smitten with itself to visit terra firma.

He eyed in the far corner of the room the carton of books they'd schlepped across the pond(ocean) They were both fearful of being stuck without a decent book, and who knew they would find everything from Virgil to Synge on the shelves of a fishing lodge?

The standing fields [ready to harvest]were the legions who hadn't filled their God-vacuum with the One who was born to fill it; the standing fields were those who waited for someone to reach out and speak the truth, and tell them how they might be saved.

You could tell a lot about people who would stop what they were doing to watch the Almighty go about His business (said as several stopped to watch a beautiful sunset, Chapter 14).

Then he prayed for ( ... ) and all the rest who made up his world.

He turned away for a moment, smacked by the beauty of complete surprise.

From "Come Rain or Come Shine" by Jan Karon pg. 259
In regard to watching a sunset, "You could tell a lot about people who would stop what they were doin' to watch the Almighty go about his business.

And it can be a way of healing.

the trees began to form

Love is an endless act of forgiveness.

Charles Dickens said, It opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens the temper - so cry away.

Well, I'm going to church. But i've got to tell you that it's full of hypocrites.
My friend, if you keep your eyes on Christians, you will be disappointed every day of your life. Your hope is to keep your eyes on Christ.

There is no such thing as too many deviled eggs.

Sorrow and joy, he thought, so inextricably entwined that he could scarcely tell where one left off and the other began.

Thank you for patience that you may reward it, thank you for brokenness that you may mend it, thank you for love that you may enlarge it above our most heartfelt expectations.

Every saint has a past, the sixteenth-century poet had said, and every sinner has a future.

I'd like you to know that I have forgiven him. Again and again. Once done, course, back comes the Enemy to persecute and persecute, and I must ante up to God and forgive yet again.

The windows were open to morning air embroidered with birdsong.

Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know thee as thou art revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of thy love, amen.

Did you hear the one about the funeral procession?

Well, this funeral procession was goin' up the hill to the church and the back door of the hearse flew open and out shoots the casket and, blametty blam, down the hill it goes through the intersection with horns blowin' and people dodgin' out of the way, and it runs on down the street and jumps up on the sidewalk and busts in through the pharmacy door and shoots down the aisle to the druggist and the lid pops up and this guy sits up and says: 'Got anything to stop this coffin?

Come sit on my lap,' she said. Soon, very soon, he would think himself too big for lap-sitting. He got down from his chair and she picked him up; he was solid as anything. She held him close and swayed her body a little, like a cradle rocking, and soon he looked at her with the lovely solemnity that seemed to be a hallmark of their Jack Tyler, and said, ' I could prob'ly have a deviled egg now.

Cynthia came in quietly and set a cup of tea before him. He kissed her hand, inexpressibly grateful, and she went back into the kitchen. When we view the little things with thanksgiving, even they become big things.

I worried too much about what others thought - I can tell you it's a tragic waste of time and energy and pokes God in the eye.

Publishing is, by its nature, about deadlines, and deadlines are toxic.

Give me faith, Lord, to know Your Presence as surely as I know the beating of my own heart. I've felt so far from You ...

No matter how far we travel, the memories will follow in the baggage car.

While most people took family for granted, he [Father Tim] took it for grace.

When I speak of God's will, it helps to know that he wants the best for us. If you can't believe he's there, pray anyway. If you feel he's cheap and withholding, thank him anyway. There will come a time when you'll thank him even for the hard places.

We took the parkway to Linville Falls, 221 to Marion, then I-40 here. The Alleluia Highway, we decided to call it.

But I tell you now that it's not too late
no matter how deep the wound. (Regarding forgiveness)

Why can't life always be lived under the stars,' she said, 'with great music and family and friends?

God our Father, Lord and Savior, thank you for your love and favor, bless this food and drink we pray, and Irene who shares with me today. Amen.

He liked being in a place where everything from forgetfulness to homicide might be blamed on the heat.

Are you reading your Bible?"
Ah, well ... I was."
And then you quit."
You got it."
Then, you can expect to be weak on one of your flanks, and that's precisely where the Enemy will come after you with a vengeance.

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I live in a village where people still care about each other, largely.

As long as you have any floor space at all, you have room for books! Just make two stacks of books the same height, place them three or four feet apart, lay a board across them, and repeat. Viola! Bookshelves!

My friend, if you keep your eyes on Christians, you will be disappointed every day of your life. Your hope is to keep your eyes on Christ." "Yes,

We must stop listening to voices from the past
and we must stop immediately.
Father Tim

I stepped out on faith to follow my lifelong dream of being an author. I made real sacrifices and took big risks. But living, it seems to me, is largely about risk.

Well, I think some people are very happy in retirement. And in a year and a half I'm going to see how happy I feel in retirement. I'm just going to not work quite so hard, but I'll continue to write as long as God gives me breath.

Easter is never deserved.

In everything, give thanks.

Phillipians 4:13 for Pete's sake!

He was praying the Psalms, as he'd done in times past, with the enemies of King David translated into his own enemies of fear and remorse and self-loathing, which, in their legions, had become as armies of darkness.

All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art. JL Borges

graced lawn parties at Fernbank." Hoppy stood and applauded.

Thank you, God, for loving me, and for sending your Son to die for my sins. I sincerely repent of my sins, and receive Christ as my personal savior. Now, as your child, I turn my entire life over to you. Amen.

The rector wondered if the joy that people seemed so expert at containing somehow transferred to their dogs, who had nothing at all to hide.

Maybe it's because he never had any control over what was happening to him as a boy. Being late was somehow a way of taking charge.

Bonhoeffer said it's not about hero worship, but intimacy with God.

Him.You are good, O God, and You are faithful. Tenderize and soften our Lenten hearts, we pray, lest they grow brittle and break.

Oh, Timothy, how could you not have loved someone all these years? Loving absolutely seeps from you, like a spring that bubbles up in a meadow." "Maybe you can convince me of that, but I doubt it. I find myself niggardly and self-seeking, hard as stone somewhere inside. Look how I've treated you." "Yes, but you could never deceive me into thinking you were hard as stone. You've always betrayed your tenderness to me, something in your face, your eyes, your voice ..." "Then I have no cover with you?" "Very little." " 'Violet only wanted a friend,' " he quoted, " 'but every time she tried to have one, she did something that chased them away.

Cutcutcutcutcutcut . . . At 4:10, the machine lifted off the roof of Mitford Hospital and, in the starless night, burned itself away.

Writing is a way of processing our lives. And it can be a way of healing.

When I open many books, or most leading women's magazines, or see almost all TV shows, I don't find myself at all. I am completely anonymous. My value system is not there.

Mitford would simply like to be the pause that refreshes.'

Was he willing to blend into the life of another human being for the rest of his days, and have hers blend into his? That, of course, was the Bible's bottom line on marriage: one flesh. Not separate entities, not two autonomous beings merely coming together at dinnertime or brushing past one another in the hallway, holding on to their singleness, guarding against invasion. One flesh! (p. 207).

The notion of whether there would be some kind of organization in this potluck deal? Shouldn't somebody get on the phone and call the guest list? What if they ended up with too many deviled eggs?
'There is no such thing as too many deviled eggs,' said Cynthia.

The waters hold all heaven within their heart.

Sometimes you have to gag on fancy before you can appreciate plain, th' way I see it. For too many years, I ate fancy, I dressed fancy, I talked fancy. A while back, I decided to start talkin' th' way I was raised t' talk, and for th' first time in forty years, I can understand what I'm sayin'.

So many people don't know that God loves them. They feel, 'Why would God love me? Why would He be interested in me?'

Don't fear whatever God lays before you today.

Father Tim: Know that God has a plan for your future. Watch and wait for his timing, and when it comes, hitch a ride. You'll know.

One must begin somewhere, sometime, to let go of the bitterness, or be eaten alive and the marrow sucked out.

My life is extremely full and wretchedly busy, and I feel that while my life drains energy from my work, my work in turn drains energy from my life. The result is, I am always playing catch-up spiritually. That is my thorn.

Lord, make me a blessing to someone today.

Bodily fatigue, which nearly always accompanies this hateful malady, can wear down the spirit. And how can the Holy Spirit work with a vessel that's leaking as fast as he can fill it? "If

Father, he prayed silently, thank you for sending this boy into my life. Thank you for the joy and the sorrow he brings. Be with him always, to surround him with right influences, and when tests of any kind must come, give him wisdom and strength to act according to your will. Look over his mother, also, and the other children, wherever they are. Feed and clothe them, keep them from harm, and bring them one day into a full relationship with your Son.

Loving can be hard. Sometimes we don't feel loving, but it isn't all about feeling. Very often it is about will. Practice that if you can.

Even the roughest character, underneath all that hurt, is someone who wants to love and be loved.

Rejoice! Know that I am with you and for you and will never leave you; take courage that I will fight for you and be your shield and buckler and provide for you when you are old; I will supply your every need, I will give you victory over death, I have prepared a place for you in heaven

To do it all and deprive others of doing is ... a misguided notion.

There was a lot of brokenness in my family. Let's just say that I was raised by my grandparents.

Paul said in the second epistle ... the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine ... they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn from the truth and wander away to myths.

My first novel is loaded with food references largely because my cupboards were bare, and I was writing hungry.

In Ireland there's no such thing as bad weather ~~~ only the wrong clothes.
(In the Company of Others)

Your goodness to me has been overwhelming. How tender you are, though I am often as tough as gristle. How patiently you have loved me since you made up your mind to love me always.

Give us grace when we hurt each other . . . to recognize and acknowledge our fault, and to seek each other's forgiveness and yours.

I remember the first time I held my book, my first book in my hands. I cannot tell you how it moved me.

That was his favorite thing about books - they took you off to other people's lives an' places, but you could still set in your own chair by th'oil heater, warm as a mouse in a churn.

Faith by its very nature must be tried... what God does with our faith must be something like workouts. He sees it to that our faith gets mushed and pulled, stretched and pounded, taken to it's limits so its limits can expand... If it doesn't get exercised, it becomes like a weak muscle that fails us when we need it.