Kindle Notes & Highlights
My tale begins before I understood this old world is held together with twisted baling wire and rusted penny nails.
“Son, because we live in a small place doesn’t mean we’re simple and small. We’re decent and we love as big as anyone.”
“We have more than we need. Less than some, but more than most.” He said. “We’re strong in faith and kind of spirit.”
The Holy Ghost is an earshot away, but your father’s belt is even closer.”
“Deliberate cruelty is the wicked work of the weak. It takes strength to be kind.”
“Losing is a hard thing,” Mom confessed. “Letting go of something you know by heart…There’s nothing harder.”
My desire was nothing new. This fire had burned inside men like me long before the first Scripture was inked on any ancient papyrus scroll. My fiery fate had been cast long before any carpenter was crucified.
“Your teacher must be a fool or a communist or both. Now that you both have grown up, it’s your sole decision on how
you choose to live your lives. I’ve done what I can to steer you in the righteous direction. It’s now up to you if you want to vote Democrat or Republican.” She continued, “This great country was founded on the freedom to live your own lives how you like. However, if you should decide to register as a Democrat, it is best you know God may forgive you, but I certainly will not.”
Women stay, but men can leave.
I reckon courage burns like a fire, fast and hot, finally burning itself out and then slipping away like an extinguished flame.
But a man shouldn’t be judged solely for his worst days.”
I couldn’t judge her. Even I held only the slightest hope that the Lord dwelled inside men like me, hidden in the last sacred places not infected by my sin, but if I couldn’t convince myself that I was worthy, I’d never convince Laura any different.
“Honesty is a selfish thing, Zach. Nothing good ever comes from it.”
if losing a thing stops you from loving again, the loss shapes the rest of your days.
It’s hard to know when it will arrive, but it always comes—the moment you understand everything has changed, like a first October frost chilling a September morning. Waking to find all the leaves have fallen from the cottonwoods to scatter in the wind like children running through a schoolyard, knowing all hope for summer is gone.
“Nothing is louder to God’s ears than a mother’s prayer.”
“A mother’s sorrow is first to reach heaven’s heights. Her pleas are laid nearest to the feet of our Lord.”
I suppose God moves in the souls of some men, a worthy few who strive to walk a straight line. Those men who yearn to be more and better. But I know with full certainty God resides in the heart of every last woman.
“Baby, your momma loved the man you are, not the man you wanted to be.”
