Cross Roads Quotes

“Somehow the pain, the losses, the hurt, the bad, God
is able to transform these into something they could have never
been, icons and monuments of grace and love. It is the deep
mystery how wounds and scars can become precious, or a
ravaging and terrifying cross the essential symbol of relentless
affection.”
“Is it worth it?” whispered Tony.
“Wrong question, son. There is no ‘it.’ The question is and
has always been, ‘Are you worth it?’ and the answer is and
always, ‘Yes!’ ”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“There is always risk in relationships, but bottom line? The world has no meaning apart from relationships. Some are just messier than others, some are seasonal, others are difficult, and a few are easy, but every one of them is important.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Transformation
without work and pain, without suffering, without a sense of loss
is just an illusion of true change.”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“you are a beautiful mess, you
are the melody…”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“You need boundaries...even in our material creations, boundaries mark the most beautiful of places, between the ocean and the shore, between the mountains and the plains, where the canyon meets the river.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Love will never condemn you for being lost, but love will not let you stay there alone, even though it will never force you to come out of your hiding places.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“I’ve never met anyone that was all bad.
Mostly bad, yes, but never all bad. Everyone was once a child,
and that gives me hope for people. They just end up bringing to
the table what they have and they do what they do for a reason,
even if they don’t know themselves what it is. Takes time to find
it sometimes, but there is always a reason.”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“Because you continue to inhabit and
believe your metaphors, you cannot see what is true.”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“Image and appearance tell you little. The inside is bigger than the outside when you have the eyes to see.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“The arrival of the unforeseen reveals the depths of one’s heart.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“The old must be torn down for the new to be raised; to have a resurrection you must have a crucifixion, but God wastes nothing, not even the wrong we have imagined into existence. In every building torn down there is much that remains that was once true and right and good, and that gets woven into the new; in fact, the new could not be what it is without the old. It is the refurbishing of the soul.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“One never knows if anything's a good idea. You just make a choice and go with the flow and see what happens. You only get one day's worth of grace, so why not spend it extravagantly.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“The inside house of the soul is magnificent but fragile; any betrayals and lies embedded in its walls and foundation shift its construction in directions unimagined.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Transformation without work and pain, without suffering, without a sense of loss is just an illusion of true change.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“A world doesn't make sense if there are no mutual relationships.”
― William Paul Young, Cross Roads

“You are the root, and only God knows that the flower will be.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Every human being is a universe within themselves. Your mother and father participated with God to create a soul who would never cease to exist. Your parents, as cocreators, supplied the stuff, genetics and more, uniquely combined to form a masterpiece, not flawless but still astounding; and we took from their hands what they brought to us, submitting to their timing and history and added what only we could bring to them- life. You were conceived, a living wonder who exploded into being.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Tony stood up and began pacing the room. “Jack,” he
confessed, “my life that I defined as a success is actually a total
shambles, and yet you’re suggesting that underneath it all, there
is an unimaginable beauty? Are you telling me that I matter?
That even though I am this ugly, ordinary-looking root, that I was
designed and intended to express a unique and extraordinary
flower? That’s what you are telling me… right?”
Jack nodded, again removing his pipe for a puff.
“And I assume,” Tony continued, “this is true about every
human being, each person born—”
“Conceived!” interrupted Jack.
“Each person ‘conceived’ on the planet, each one living in
life-before, each one is a root in which a flower is waiting?
Right?”
Again Jack nodded”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“You want to know why I live here, in this ‘hovel’; I think that
is the word you used, based on your civilized and educated
perception?”
There was no use denying it. “Yes, I was wondering. So
why?”
“It was the best you could give me.” She didn’t turn from her
work.
“Excuse me? The best ‘I’ could give you? I had nothing to do
with this. I could build you something much better, but not this.
How could you think…?”
“It’s all right, Anthony! I have no expectations. I am grateful to
have found even this small place in your heart. I travel light”—
she smiled as if at some secret thought—“and I make my home
inside the simplest gifts. There is nothing to feel bad or ashamed
about. I am thoroughly grateful, and being here is a joy!”
“So… because this is me, my world somehow, I have only
made this small place for you?”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“This, Tony, is a living land, not a construction site. This is
real and breathing, not a fabrication that can be bullied into
being. When you choose technique over relationship and
process, when you try and shortcut the speed of growing
awareness and force understanding and maturity before its time,
this”—he pointed down and over the length”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“Perhaps true change increased the space in one's heart, creating openness that allowed for authentic community.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Cabby was saying
“someday”… someday Tony would love him. He hoped it might
be true. Perhaps Cabby knew things that he didn’t”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“You need boundaries. But not the walls. The walls separate people and the boundaries do them honor.”
― William Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Faith takes risk, Tony, and there is always risk in relationships, but bottom line? The world has no meaning apart from relationships. Some are just messier than others, some are seasonal, others are difficult, and a few are easy, but every one of them is important.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“Somehow the pain, the losses, the hurt, the bad, God is able to transform these into something they could have never been, icons and monuments of grace and love. It is the deep mystery how wounds and scars can become precious, or a ravaging and terrifying cross the essential symbol of relentless affection.”
― Wm. Paul Young, Cross Roads

“You heard and felt the harmonies of light, at least
the surface of them, but you didn’t notice, did you, that the
melody was missing?”
It was true, Tony had not heard a melody, just a symphony of
harmonies.
“I don’t understand. What’s the missing melody?” he asked.
“You, Anthony! You are the melody! You are the reason for
the existence of what you witnessed and consider so
immeasurably awe inspiring. Without you, what you perceived
would have no meaning and no shape. Without you, it would
have simply… fallen apart.”
― William P Young, Cross Roads: What If You Could Go Back and Put Things Right?

“Your empty imaginations that raise themselves up against the knowing of the character of God. Fight them.” “How?” “Get angry and tell the truth!” “I thought anger was wrong.” “Wrong? I get angry all the time, at everything that is wrong.” “Who are you?” he finally asked. “I am the one who relentlessly loves you,” she said, beaming, and stepped back. “Mr. Tony, when you find yourself in the darkness, don’t light your own fires, don’t circle yourself with a blaze you have set. Darkness cannot change the character of God.” “I thought Grandmother left me… right in the middle of the battle.” “Never left. Your imagination hid her from view. You were lighting your own fires.” “I don’t know how not to do that,” confessed Tony.”
― William Paul Young, Cross Roads

“All our life we search for words, which bond that for what we desire, but we only succeed getting a glimpse through blurred glass.”
― William Paul Young, Cross Roads

“It would be better off for you to remove dead words from your tongues and pay attention to living words such as mercy, goodness, forgiveness and decency.”
― William Paul Young, Cross Roads

“When insecurity prevails over routine, a man starts to think about his life as a whole, of what was important to him and why.”
― William Paul Young, Cross Roads