Heart in the Right Place Quotes

“Inside a barn is a whole universe, with its own time zone and climate and ecosystem, a shadowy world of swirling dust illuminated in tiger stripes by light shining through the cracks between the boards. Old leather tack, lengths of chain, rope, and baling twine dangled from nails and rafters and draped over stall railings. Generations of pocketknives lay lost in the layers of detritus on the floor.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“Maybe the ability to confer attention on another person was not simply common courtesy, but was the fundamental act of humanity.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“From pg. 172

“You know how in Bible stories whenever an angel shows up, first thing he always says is, “Fear not!”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it took me most of my life, but I finally figured out that he’s not trying to comfort us when he says that. He’s giving us an order. It’s a command given more than 300 times in the Bible. The Lord’s telling us not to let ourselves be afraid. We can’t afford to be scared. It just gets in the way of us doing whatever it is that we’re supposed to be doing.”
I was stunned. Such an interpretation had never occurred to me and it sure wasn’t what they taught in church. Fearlessness didn’t come from being comforted, being patted on the back by God, and having our fear reduced. It meant making a conscious decision not to indulge ourselves. We had to intentionally turn things around, like when Virgil convinced Dante that the best way out of hell was to climb up the hairy-legged devil himself.
I said, “I don’t know if I’ve got that kind of courage.”
“But that’s just it,” Fletcher said. “Everybody gets scared. It’s okay to feel scared. But you can’t let it run your life. If you’ll just mind the Lord on this one thing, you don’t hardly need any courage – or even faith.
“Just mind Him in the one thing, ” Fletcher said.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“Do you get the next day off if you have to do that?” “Hell no. That’s what medical work’s all about. You do the best you can for as long as you can and then, no matter what happens, you keep coming back day after day and do it again.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“Maybe. Maybe not. I make it a point to keep in touch with them while they’re out of their bodies, so they can understand what’s going on. I always help lift them onto the operating table and then lift them off again when we’re through. That’s not part of my job. I do it because I wanna lay hands on them. Twice. I’m praying with them before I start and again after I’m done. And the whole time I’ve got their blood in my machine I never forget it’s their soul I’ve got running around in these tubes. I meditate over their blood. I think it helps them if someone in the room stays conscious about what’s really going on.” Henry was really out there. But everything he said seemed vaguely familiar to me. And felt right somehow, even though I didn’t understand why.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“I sat down and a door to my left opened and a blond-haired woman who looked to be maybe forty was rolled in on a gurney.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“Fletcher said. “Everybody gets scared. It’s okay to feel scared. But you can’t let it run your life. If you’ll just mind the Lord on this one thing, you don’t hardly need any courage—or even faith.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“She was especially fond of old Maalox bottles and had a huge collection of them which she displayed on every windowsill and tabletop. She admired their particular shade of blue.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“Fletcher smiled. “There’s a lot of strange things in this world, Carolyn. Things I can’t understand.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“I need to get my feet and ankles xray'd. I took the flu, got diarrhea and it went to my feet. It didn't help that I dropped a piece of wood on them either.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“It's hurtin' in the place I call my skull, between my arm and my neck, near the fingers, cause of my leg over on the other side. It hurts. Ye might have to jab a needle in it.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place

“It's hurting in a place I call my skull, between my arm and my neck, near the fingers, cause of my leg, over on the other side. It hurts. Ye might wanna jab a needle in it.... I need to get my feet and ankles xrayed. I took the flu, got diarrhea, and it went to my feet. It didn't help that I dropped a piece of wood on them either.”
― Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place