She lived a profound, inspiring life. President Obama's daughter is named after her.
She sometimes wrote in short, pithy sentences. She was criticized for writing for Hallmark but, in doing so, she reached masses of people who, otherwise, would not have been affected by her words.
Here are a few of my favorites.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Just reading this line helped me to understand my own agony. We all need to tell our stories to someone who will listen. But I've found that not many people want to hear it. Only my brother, Paul, truly knows my childhood story - because he lived it as well.
You can't forgive without loving and I don't mean sentimentality. I don't mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand and say "I forgive. I'm finished with it. "
I've worked on forgiveness my whole life. But after my husband, Ken, died I went on a journey, both literally and internally, to find and eradicate whatever was keeping me from forgiving any and everybody whom I though I needed to forgive. I'm not altogether there but what a magnificent journey it's been. Of course, there will always be people who get on my nerves.
If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?
This is a tough one. But I think the people around me would tell you that, in the last decade, I've done pretty well about being good to myself.
While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.
The realization of the truth of the above quote has enriched my life beyond measure.
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