First Phone Call from Heaven

by Mitch Albom

“The pain you go through in life doesn’t really touch you . . . not the real you. . . . You are so much lighter than you think.”

Miracles happen quietly every day—in an operating room, on a stormy sea, in the sudden appearance of a roadside stranger. They are rarely tallied. No one keeps score. But now and then, a miracle is declared to the world. And when that happens, things change.

Faith, it is said, is better than belief, because belief is when someone else does the thinking.

the pain we suffer is a way to make us appreciate what comes next.”

They teach you, as children, that you might go to heaven. They never teach you that heaven might come to you.

“Fear is how you lose your life . . . a little bit at a time. . . . What we give to fear, we take away from . . . faith.”

Knowing heaven is what heals us on earth.

There are two stories for every life; the one you live, and the one others tell.

All blessings do not bless the same.

There is a time for hello and a time for good-bye. It’s why the act of burying things seems natural, but the act of digging them up does not.

“Heaven . . . is the same feeling. . . . No fear. No dark. When you know you are loved . . . that’s the light.”

“If you find one true friend in life, you’re richer than most. If that one true friend is your husband, you’re blessed.”

What in life can love not penetrate?

As happens with all miracles, once life goes on, those who believe retell them with wonder. Those who do not, do not.