Katy > Katy's Quotes

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
― Cicero

“That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“It’s easy, of course, to buzz the beach and find the sparkle on good days—days when the sun is shining and your heart is light. When it gets really hard, though, that’s when you start to understand that it’s a discipline, and you need it in the dark so much more desperately than you need it in the light. Joy and celebration are practices for the long haul. Whenever possible, walk out of your way for a few minutes, and take a few deep breaths somewhere beautiful. Whether that's a forest clearing, or a french bakery, or a path through a prairie, or a cobblestone street. Take the long way sometimes, reveling in the discovery of beauty, noticing everything you can. What it smells like, and the slant of the light, and how the sounds remind you of recess, or Rome, or Grand Rapids.”
― Shauna Niequist, I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working

“believe in seeking out beauty absolutely every chance we get, as an act of prayer, as an act of worship, as an act of resistance. I believe in going out of our way if it means getting to see the water or the mountains or the sky streaked with colors. I believe in attending the sunset the way some people buy fancy theater tickets.”
― Shauna Niequist, I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working

“Hospitality is holding space for another person to be seen and heard and loved. It’s giving someone a place to be when they’d otherwise be alone. It’s, as my friend Sibyl says, when someone leaves your home feeling better about themselves, not better about you.”
― Shauna Niequist, I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working