Quotes from Karen Scalf Linamen

My pet peeve is hearing a knock on the bathroom door followed by the familiar words, 'What are you doing in there?

If your therapist asks if you have a quarter, then politely tells you to call someone who cares ... there's a good chance you're whining!

Courtship is exciting and romantic because it thrives on the edge of disaster. It co-exists with the threat that, at any moment, it could fall apart and be lost forever.

Lord, hang on to me. I know I should be hanging on to you, but I'm not. The truth is, I feel too wounded and broken and angry and rebellious and hurt right now to hang on to you. So if I'm going to get through this at all, it's got to be up to you. See me through this, Lord, hang on, please hang on to me and don't let go.

The Bible tells me that "every good and perfect gift is from the Lord." I believe it. But, unlike things like stress and calories, these good gifts really are optional—I can choose to push them away, or I can embrace them with open arms. I wonder how many good gifts I've left unopened because I was too stressed, harried, or just plain shortsighted to recognize them for what they were?

Sometimes I long for a good old-fashioned Walton Christmas. You know, the kind where you give someone an apple or wooden whistle and they go into cardiac arrest from sheer ecstasy.

the truth is that God is so big that nothing that happens in our lives is outside the circle of who he is or beyond the realm of his great love for us.

When I'm hurting, it feels good to laugh. This is because, when life gets tough, we have two choices: We can cry about it, or we can laugh, and laughing is easier on the mascara. Crying makes me look like a raccoon.

You know, the Bible encourages us not to forsake fellowship with other believers. I think it's because we really do need each other. Not a one of us can thrive isolated and on our own.

But if you find yourself smarting from an unfortunate comment in a usually loving friendship, I have three words for you: Get over it. Mention it if you need to, work it out, reaffirm your friendship, then get over it and go on. You know, the Lord didn't mess up. He's placed you and me smack dab in the middle of chaotic relationships with imperfect people because the bumpy road of loving and being loved leaves us richer as a result.