Quotes from Jan Karon

I've found that if we keep our eyes on Christians, we can be disappointed in a major way. The important thing is to keep our eyes on Christ….

Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things.

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 terrible timing of it . . . but no, it wasn't terrible timing, it was God's timing and it was perfect, God knew everything there was to know . . . . She needed to remember this every step of the way, one step at a time.

I know the fifth chapter

A good shoe is a shoe you don't notice . . . The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God. But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself, and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping.

In every way, un-forgiveness makes us the victim—

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. Violà! Bookshelves!

That way, you two can get to know

Don't fear whatever God lays before you today

In Ephesians 5:28, we're told that he who loved his wife loves himself. In effect, a good marriage happens when the happiness of the other is essential to your own happiness. We might say that a good marriage is a contest of generosities. 'How wonderful that it's possible to ensure our own happiness by seeking the happiness of another.

You and I, on the other hand, are the perfect size for each other. As we're very nearly the same height, we're just like a pair of bookends.

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit," he exclaimed, his breath vaporizing on the frosty air. "The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are!

too tired to run and too afraid to rest.

think th' whole point of life is to know God, and be able to accept the way things turn out.

Rest. Rest. Rest in God's love," Madame Guyon had written. "The only work you are required now to do is to give your most intense attention to His still, small voice within.

Remember our good verse from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

While most people understandably took family for granted, he took it for grace.

Thank you God for so many dreams coming true. Thank you for everything. Even confusion and hard decisions.

I like what E. B. White said: 'A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can't get it by breeding for it and you can't buy it with money. It just happens along.

Criminal,' Cynthia called his inability to kick back and let circumstances take their course. In his book, circumstances without close supervision had a tendency to wind up in the ditch.

He leaned against the mantel and stretched, breathing the prayer he learned from his grandmother: Lord, make me a blessing to someone today.

Let the peace of this place surround you as you sit or kneel quietly. Let the hurry and worry of your life fall away. You are God's child. He loves you and cares for you, and is here with you now and always. Speak to Him thoughtfully, give yourself time for Him to bring things to mind.

Lord, give me the words, the wisdom, the heart for this, Your will be done. . .