Somewhere More Holy Quotes

“Endurance has been the way of man since the Fall--finding joy not in the absence of suffering, but in the midst of it. ...Marriage is, for many of us, an essential part of our sanctification. In it we die, every day, for other people--for our spouses, for our children. Can joy be born in this? I can tell you that the answer, miraculously, is Yes. But not unless you endure.”
― Tony Woodlief, Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son

“...we are telling them the stories of our lives, which is much of any parent's conversation with his child, the truths and wishes and mistakes that he has endured or seen. We tell them our stories with a hope that somehow the thousand futile things we have done or endured were really a preparing of the way, so that they might have an easier time of living when they leave us.”
― Tony Woodlief, Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son

“What would we parents give to keep these children from the darkness? ...I would go to hell for my children. And this is how we know the love of God, that he did the same for his little ones, faithless though we are.”
― Tony Woodlief, Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son

“Are you ever amazed at how effortlessly they love us back, given how often we fail them, how often we bark at them, how often we make them less important than they ought to be? What would the world look like if all of us were so forgiving?”
― Tony Woodlief, Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son

“So the meal needn't be elegant, its participants well-versed in etiquette. Every dish doesn't have to be cooked to perfection, or adequately warmed, for that matter. What's important is that we not throw away yet another moment of sacredness in our desperate quest to distract ourselves. These fleeting moments of beauty and joy are all we have to shore ourselves up against the sorrow that inevitably finds anyone who has the courage to bind his heart to another.”
― Tony Woodlief, Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son

“Who we are is worlds apart from who God is, and that chasm might have remained forever if not for the fact that he came to us as we are, where we are. We spiritualize and intellectualize this God, who has from the very beginning, come to his people, pursued us, and lived among us, because doing so makes him safely distant, more easily understood. But he comes to us. He comes so that we might become--some more slowly than others and perhaps me slowest of all--like him.”
― Tony Woodlief, Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son

“Sharing a meal is an intimate act. It is set in motion because someone is willing to spend precious time sorting and preparing food for the people she loves. ...whoever prepares a meal is serving as protector and nourisher, casting aside what the decay of the world has marred, offering her loved ones life. She is crafting more than food to fill our bellies; she is preparing an offering of love.”
― Tony Woodlief, Somewhere More Holy: Stories from a Bewildered Father, Stumbling Husband, Reluctant Handyman, and Prodigal Son