Jen Knox Quotes

We need to be willing to mess up, to look silly, to be imperfect. The uber wealthy or network-driven can find short term successes by hiding flaws or hiring a team of image makers, but it's all temporary. True art, true connectivity, true love is about being authentic and vulnerable. These are the messages that carry weight and survive time. ~ Jen Knox

We can only ever know ourselves, and by doing so honestly, we come to know the world. ~ Jen Knox

Mistakes are lessons, and lessons are gifts. Examine them. ~ Jen Knox

When the writing is good, a book becomes a mirror. The reader will see an uncanny familiarity and respond accordingly. ~ Jen Knox

If we want our lives to align with God's will, we will need to ask a better question than "What should I do?" . . . God is always more concerned with the decision-maker than he is with the decision itself. ~ Jen Wilkin

It would be nice, after this was over, to take a long raft trip. Maybe Jen and I could paddle through Westwater and its ass-clenching rapids, then lounge on the banks in Moab for a week or two. That would be heaven: a raft trip with a beer in my hand instead of a rifle. I ~ Erik Storey

You're a slightly peculiar lady, aren't you?' Agatha asked.
Drusilla waved Agatha's comment away. 'Normal is completely overrated. ~ Jen Turano

If a fast doesn't include any sacrifices, then it's not a fast. The discomfort is where the magic happens. Life zips along, unchecked and automatic. We default to our lifestyles, enjoying our privileges tra la la, but a fast interrupts that rote trajectory. Jesus gets a fresh platform in the empty space where indulgence resided. ~ Jen Hatmaker

Julia quickly looked back down at the keyboard, trying to continue her recital unperturbedly, but she was fully aware of his eyes on her. In fact, she wanted his gaze on her. She wanted him to absorb every note she was playing. And suddenly, she found herself wishing he could somehow hear that this music had once been meant for him. ~ Jen Minkman

One day, he will be able to smile again. And I will still be there for him. ~ Jen Minkman

My nana was always a widow as long as I was alive; my grandfather died before I was born. All the women on my street - there were four houses in a row with all old women who lived alone who were widowed. They all had kids, but they were all widowed. My mom didn't put me in preschool; I didn't know that was a thing. I just hung out with these women all day. ~ Jen Kirkman

It is immature and lazy to imagine we know everything there is to know about someone before we know that someone. We don't know their stories, their histories, their real live human feelings. We don't know their favorite movies and best memories and what makes them afraid. It is unfair to take one fact, one thing they've said or we heard they said, or one thing they wrote, or someone else's experience, or a group they identify with and make a character sketch. If people did that to us, the picture would be so woefully incomplete, we wouldn't even recognize our own description. ~ Jen Hatmaker

Jersey chasers are a dime a dozen, always willing to take a ride on the football side, but you've got to be careful with the overly eager ones, the ones who aren't just trying to make a trophy outta you, but a fuckin' Lifetime Achievement award. As in, poking holes in condoms and look at that, you're a baby daddy. I don't know if Josie falls into that latter category, but she's a little too eager for my taste. ~ Jen Frederick

Let's treat each other well, making more space for every sort of ragamuffin. We needn't mistake unity with uniformity; we can have the first without the second. The breadth of God's family is mercifully wide. Grace has no discernment, apparently. Jesus created a motley crew, plucking us from every context and inaugurating a piecemeal clan that has only ever functioned with mercy. We should be grabbing hands, throwing our heads back, and laughing that God saved us all, because surely this is the messiest family ever and He loves us anyway. Our shared redemption should keep us grateful and kind, because what other response even makes sense? May the world see a thankful, committed family who loves their God, adores their Savior, and can't get enough of one another. This is a story that saves, a story that heals, and the right story to tell. ~ Jen Hatmaker

It seems devastating to have your heart so completely undone for a single person. If they screw up, if they don't feel the same, if their life is too busy or too complicated or too far away to fit you into it, something inside you breaks. Even when it heals, there are scars.
There are always scars. ~ Jen Klein

Imagine foreign troops sitting idly, laughing as hooligans trashed the Smithsonian, stole the gold from Fort Knox and burned down the Department of the Interior. That was us in Iraq. ~ Ted Rall

Hi." I caught a flash of his smile as he bent to kiss me. His lips were warm and his kiss was sweet. Gentle. He only deepened the kiss a little while his hand slid into my hair and his other hand curved into the small of my back.

I smiled as he pulled away. "Hi."

"That's better." He cupped my cheek in his hand, his thumb tracing the curve of my cheekbone. "I've missed you since yesterday. Is that weird? Does that make me one of those stalker guys?"

"Only if you follow me home. Cut off a lock of my hair while I sleep. Something like that."

"I thought I'd save that for next weekend." He bent to kiss me again but swerved at the last second to brush his lips against my cheek instead. "I have a theory about you, Emily Parker."

"You do?"

"I do." Another kiss on my cheek, and then his teeth grazed my earlobe, and I shivered. "I don't think you've ever been wooed. Have you?" The words were a low whisper in my ear, and the shiver intensified.

"Wooed?" The word felt strange in my mouth.

"Wooed," he repeated, punctuating the word with a kiss on my other cheek. "Courted. Swept off your feet. Had someone show you how you make him feel."

"I . . . I can't say that I have." That was an understatement.

"Then brace yourself." He straightened up and backed away from me a step or two. "I'm going to woo your ass off. ~ Jen DeLuca

The second prong in my revised Trinity is IKEA, the Swedish home store monolith. If you're unfamiliar, they carry every single thing you could possibly ever need to fill your home and garden at low, low prices, but in obscure Swedish sizes so those items won't coordinate with anything else you own, like, say, if you want to put a regular Target lamp shade on your IKEA lamp. Fletch thinks it's Sweden's master plan to make Americans so busy trying to construct furniture with Allen wrenches that we don't notice they've invaded us. (Personally, I think it's payback; the Swedes are pissed that we aren't buying ABBA albums anymore.) ~ Jen Lancaster

When I think of those who have influenced my life the most, I think not of the great but of the good. ~ John Knox

Flakes fell softly, covering the already frozen castle grounds. When she stuck out her tongue, she could feel the flakes land on it. The little droplets of frozen water had the same name she did: Snow.
Was she named for the snow or was the snow named for her? That's what she wondered. She was a princess, so the weather could have been named after her.
Then again, snow had been around a lot longer than she had. She was only seven. ~ Jen Calonita

CUSTOMER: I'm looking for a biography to read that's really interesting. Could you recommend one?
BOOKSELLER: Sure. What books have you read and liked?
CUSTOMER: Well, I really loved Mein Kampf.
BOOKSELLER: ...
CUSTOMER: Loved is probably not the right word.
BOOKSELLER: No. Probably not.
CUSTOMER: Liked, is probably better. Yes. Liked. I liked it a lot.
BOOKSELLER: ... ~ Jen Campbell

Desire, if it is to be trusted, is to be inspired by a holy vocabulary. ~ Jen Pollock Michel

They say the breaks even up in the long run, and the trick is to be a long-distance runner. ~ Chuck Knox

In so many ways I am the opposite of Jesus' lifestyle. This keeps me up at night. I can't have authentic communion with Him while mired in the trappings He begged me to avoid. ~ Jen Hatmaker

Usually the things we think we need become the very things we need a break from. ~ Jen Hatmaker

Whatever my life looks like, I want it to be real and big and full. I want when, if I get hit by a car, I want to know that I have deep and real friendships, people to visit me in the hospital. ~ Jen Kirkman

Laying complements next to each other makes them scintillating, but mixing them produces a 'muddy' rendering of each color. The mud is good stuff ... ~ Simmie Knox

This way we are sure to have enough chairs for everyone," he explained with a grin.
"Oh, right. We definitely want to make sure there are plenty of seats." Jacque smirked.
"Well, as long as we are being so conscientious," Jen cut in.
"Sally, why don't you go climb up in Sorin's lap and I'll," she pointed as a guy walked past her, "grab that hottie and pull up a lap as well." Jen felt a hand rest at the nape of her neck as a voice spoke softly next to her ear.
"If you need a lap to sit on, ţinere de meu inimă (holder of my heart), mine will be the only available to you." She watched as Decebel sat in the chair next to her and felt her stomach drop as he winked at her.
"I better stay in this chair. It has a tendency to walk off if left on its own. ~ Quinn Loftis

It never ceases to amaze me the precious time we spend chasing the squirrels around our brains, playing out our dramas, worrying about unwanted facial hair, seeking adoration, justifying our actions, complaining about slow Internet connections, dissecting the lives of idiots, when we are sitting in the middle of a full-blown miracle that is happening right here, right now. ~ Jen Sincero

Back in early 1983, my dad was tasked with keeping unions from organizing in his company's distribution centers. His work pulled him away from home for months on end. ~ Jen Lancaster

It's human to hear stories and to know how people live and to imagine how that is for them. It's very interdependent! ~ Gish Jen

Kingdom is a signpost to the holy. ~ Jen Pollock Michel

Here in the United States, we're consumed by our love of money and status. We think bigger is better, and if we can just get that promotion, all will be well with our souls. There's one fatal flaw to this mindset: it's all smoke and mirrors. ~ Jen Lilley

With the mere click of a mouse, I can be put in my place but good via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, or Google+, just to name a few. (But not MySpace, which has been a ghost town since 2008. I hope Tom's okay.) ~ Jen Lancaster

The Christian story, centered as it is on the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the only story for making sense of desire and loss. ~ Jen Pollock Michel

In fact, there are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in human history, with an estimated 27 million in bondage across the globe. ~ Jen Lilley

In real life, I tend to yell at people a lot. Not because I'm bossy or mean, but because I'm frustrated. ~ Jen Lancaster

It's easier to ignore all the bad shit in the light. Distract yourself with work and TV and other people. The dark is just ... bad memories. Bad dreams. I don't like to be left alone with all that. ~ Ruthie Knox

There's nothing fun about stuff like estate planning, getting mammograms, or talking to a guy about long term disability insurance, but do it anyway. Trust me, the stress of not having done the above is prematurely aging. ~ Jen Lancaster

But in disclaiming the dead, you are yourself disclaimed by the dead. If you are not prepared to blush for Alexander the Sixth, it is childishly inconsistent to take pride in the memory of Saint Francis. ~ Ronald Knox

A chainsaw's God's way of evening out the playing field between you and everything, even the invisible stuff. ~ Jennifer L. Knox

If I had kids, I'd probably be way over-protective, researching everything they begged to see to make sure the content was appropriate. ~ Jen Lancaster

In all our efforts, if we are not about people, our labors aren't really about Jesus but about us. ~ Jen Hatmaker

I'm busy sorting through our new collection of rhinestone jewelry. Should anyone be in the market for sparkly accessories the size of a hubcap, this is the place to get them. Earlier today, a customer picked up one of the enormous chandelier-style offerings and asked, 'Do those be genuine rhimestones?'
I couldn't even begin to explain everything that was wrong with her sentence, so I simply replied, 'Yes. They do be genuine. ~ Jen Lancaster

Though I believe math is a tool of the Enemy, I learned enough to know that to accurately find the sum, you add up all the parts. ~ Jen Hatmaker

We're all guilty of saying insincere things at one point or another, if only just to make the moment not totally suck as much as it truly does. ~ Jen Naumann

Jesus always colored outside of the lines here, extending grace and healing to those well beyond His people group. He often healed people first; they believed second. ~ Jen Hatmaker

Hamilton found it difficult to concentrate on what Eliza was saying. Her lips were moving rapidly, but he couldn't actually decipher what the words coming out of her mouth were. It was such a lovely mouth, and he found it quite quirky, given the fact that it could assume different positions with alarming frequency. Like now, it was pursed in a most attractive manner, and now ... it was moving again as if the lady could not get the words out fast enough. His gaze traveled upward, past the eyes that were flashing and settled on her hair. He couldn't help but appreciate the efforts of Mabel. The curls she'd been able to produce on Eliza's head, well, they were tantalizing. He had the strangest urge to reach out and touch them, to feel with his own hand if they were as soft as they appeared, something he'd been contemplating ever since he got a good look at her in the dining room. He pulled abruptly back to reality when Eliza poked him in the chest. ~ Jen Turano

You don't respect me, George," said Mrs. Morland indignantly. "You never have. And I don't respect you. We are just friends."
"Well, friends the merest Keep much that I resign," said George Knox with a voice rather unlike his own.
"I know why you are talking like that, George," said Mrs Morland. "You've been reading Browning. But I am not your Lost Mistress."
There was a moment's silence from her slightly stunned audience.
"And I have never been anyone's mistress," the gifted writer continued. "Nobody ever asked me and I should have been furious if they had. Stoker would have given notice. And it would have been most awkward for my boys; especially the married ones. I mean, my boys wouldn't have taken much notice but my daughters-in-law, whom I am devoted to, would think it not a good thing. ~ Angela Thirkell

The sight of Fos and Opal coming down the street together absolutely tickled him. The idea of two such strangely unremarkable yet lovable people could have found and met each other reaffirmed his waning faith in anything remotely optimistic about mankind and seemed to be a more convincing proof than all the gospel shit flown from the pulpits of Knox County that life could, in fact, distribute happy endings. ~ Marianne Wiggins

Children are uncivilized, so have a staggering power to harm, especially those people whose hearts need mending. In that house an unhappy child was too much rain on a high water table. I poured it on and the terrain liquefied. ~ Elizabeth Knox

Xas reappeared and showed every sign of winding himself around Sobran permanently, like -Sobran complained - some parasitic vine. ~ Elizabeth Knox