208 Quotes by Jen Hatmaker

But even if we disagree, perhaps even strongly, it is still possible to hold a civil dialogue where ideas find their way out into the open.

The best I offer the world is the truth – my highest gift. What the world does with it is not up to me. I am not in charge of outcomes, opinions, assessments. I am not in the business of damage control. When I present a fabricated version of myself – the self who knows all, is ever certain, always steps strong – we all lose, because I cannot keep up with that lie and neither can you.

What many of us embraced as solid and certain seems condescending and exclusive to them. Values that felt trustworthy to some of us – authority, tradition, reason, logic, absolute truth – read like easily dismantled propaganda to postmoderns. Authority – parents, church leaders, government – has failed the next generation in profound ways.

It’s about building bridges with those who won’t come to us on Sunday, not as a project but because Jesus loves them and told us to. It’s a dangerous journey that requires honesty and vulnerability.

A homeless man clarified this once: “You know? We’ve lost so many things: dignity, security, our marriages, our jobs. But one thing we all miss is kids.” A tighter safety net exists around homeless children; society won’t stand for their vagrancy so they are whisked into foster care leaving parents on the streets. “But you guys always bring your kids down here, and it makes us happy. It’s a bright spot in our dark lives.

We can’t deliver folks from their pits, but we can sure get in there with them until God does. Live long enough and it becomes clear that stuff is not the stuff of life. People are. We need each other, so we probably ought to practice radical grace, because our well-flaunted opinions are cold companions when real life hits.

This is why my clothes come from Target; I’m there for Sharpies, so I guess I’ll buy this shirt facing the aisle.

A good parent prepares the child for the path, not the path for the child.

We are not promised a pain-free life but are given the tools to survive: God and people. It is enough.