#grace

...As she grew older, she was aware of her changing position on mortality. In her youth, the topic of death was philosophical; in her thirties it was unbearable and in her forties unavoidable. In her fifties, she had dealt with it in more rational terms, arranging her last testament, itemizing assets and heirlooms, spelling out the organ donation, detailing the exact words for her living will. Now, in her sixties, she was back to being philosophical. Death was not a loss of life, but the culmination of a series of releases. It was devolving into less and less. You had to release yourself from vanity, desire, ambition, suffering, and frustration - all the accoutrements of the I, the ego. And if you die, you would disappear, leave no trace, evaporate into nothingness... ↗

— Amy Tan

#death #age

I once laughed at the vanity of women of thirty or forty who whitened their ruddy old skin with lead, but now I know such salves are not disguises for old crones who wish to catch a young husband. Instead they are only a mask we wear so that we can, for a little while, still recognize ourselves. ↗

— Rebecca Johns

#aging-gracefully #beauty #age

Argh!" Thalia pushed me, and a shock went through my body that blew me backward ten feet into the water. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs. "Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean to—" Anger roared in my ears. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe. I stood up. "Yeah," I growled. "I didn't mean to, either." Thalia was breathing heavily. "Enough!" Chiron ordered. But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?" Somehow, it was okay when Annabeth called me that — at least, I'd gotten used to it — but hearing it from Thalia was not cool. "Bring it on, Pinecone Face! ↗

— Rick Riordan

#chiron #percy-jackson #thalia-grace #anger

Words to intrigue, inspire, examine, question, praise; Words to help us appreciate our world, our selves, our games; Words to dance our true soul fires gracefully free. ↗

— Jay Woodman

#dance #free #free-thought #freedom-of-expression #freedom-of-speech

Well and good if all things change, O Lord God, provided I am rooted in You. ↗

— Juan de la Cruz

#christian #god-s-grace #god-s-love #hope #perseverance

People talk about the courage of cancer patients, and I do not deny that courage. I had been poked and stabbed and poisoned for years, and still I trod on. But make no mistake: In that moment, I would have been very, very happy to die. ↗

— John Green

#courage

Then I will find you at a later date. For now,” he bent down on one knee and the very same Kin that teased me in every single possible way my entire life, kissed the back of my hand with intense blue eyes watching me the whole time. His eyes are two pools of a swirling emotional ocean leaving the one in the lifeboat gasping for air. WOW! If anyone asked me to predict this, I would have laughed in their face. ↗

— Cyndi Goodgame

#dating

And then Jonah heard God’s voice. “Jonah, do you know what the difference is between you and the trees?” He was confident it was God because God usually asked questions but gave no answers. Jonah didn’t need a divine answer to this question, he knew it. “Yes,” he said. “The difference between me and the trees is that the trees let go of their leaves. I keep holding onto mine. The trees make room for new life. I don’t. ↗

— David W. Jones

#death #death-of-a-loved-one #god-s-grace #grief #letting-go

and I told myself -- as I've told myself before -- that the body shuts down then the pain gets too bad, that consciousness is temporary, that this will pass. But just like always, I didn't slip away. I was left on the shore with the waves washing over me, unable to drown. ↗

— John Green

#death #hazel-grace #pain #sickness #death

Certainly there is life and there is death, but even in death, if we look closely enough, we will find grace. ↗

— Jeffrey R. Anderson

#grace #life #life-and-death #nature #death