don't ever discount the wonder of your tears. they can be healing waters and a stream of joy. sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak.

i am especially fond of you.
that is what i took from this book. the shack. the theme. the message. left me with fat, warm tears rolling down my cheeks. not fully processed, but working through it. i'm in it right now. in the middle. i wont pretend i understand grace. i'm a work in progress. needing a written reminder that i am loved. branded by that four letter word.

::so why do i have so much fear in my life?
because you don't believe. you don't know that we love you. the person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love...i am not talking about rational fears regarding legitamate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. to the degree that these fears have a place in your life, you neither believe i am good nor know deep in your heart that i love you. you sing about it; you talk about it, but you don't know it.

::do you realize that the imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you? it is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can't. it is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn't even real, nor will it ever be real. you try and play god, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear.

::people are tenacious when it comes to the treasure of their imaginary independence. they hoard and hold their sickness with a firm grip. they find their identity and worth in their brokenness and guard it with every ounce of strength they have. no wonder grace has such little attraction. in that sense you have tried to lock the door of your heart from the inside.

:: paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotion.
most emotions are responses to perception-what you think is true about a given situation. if your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false too. so check your perceptions, and beyond that check the truthfulness of your paradigms-what you believe. just because you believe something doesn't make it true.

:: if anything matters then everything matters. because you are important everything you do is important. every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again.

-william p. young