198 Quotes by Jan Karon

We are, finally, all wanderers in search of knowledge. Most of us hold the dream of becoming something better than we are, something larger, richer, in some way more important to the world and ourselves. Too often, the way taken is the wrong way, with too much emphasis on what we want to have, rather than what we wish to become.

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

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

Keep a clear eye toward life’s end. Do not forget your purpose and testing as God’s creature. What you are in His sight is what you are and nothing more. Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received... but only what you have given; a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage. -Francis of Assisi.

Let us weigh the gain and the loss, wagering that God is. Consider these alternatives – if you win, you win all. If you lose, you lose nothing. Do not hesitate, then, to wager that he is.

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

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

In the end, his mother’s memory could not be shamed by a gift from God. Don’t worry about me, she would say, and never worry what others may think. 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.

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