02c. 1948 ADBut secluding my experience during that early period was both cowardly and wise. Some things are too fragile, too vulnerable to bring into the public eye. Tender things with tiny roots tend to wither in the glare of public scrutiny. By holding my awakening within, I contained the energy of it, and it fed me the way blood feeds muscle. It fed me a certain propelling energy, and I kept moving forward.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
03c. 1948 ADThe awakening passed from simple recognition of my need for God at the center of my life, to a depth where the will is stirred And that is a deeper place by far. That is the place of response, of unifying one's heart, mind, soul and feet around a decision.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
04c. 1948 ADYou're looking for a reason," she said. "And that doesn't help. It doesn't change the present.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
05c. 1948 ADI worried so much about how I looked and whether I was doing things right, I felt half the time I was impersonating a girl instead of really being one.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
06c. 1948 ADI can't think of anything I'd rather have more than somebody lovin' me.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
07c. 1948 ADThe basic dynamics of conversion are summed up for me in the words LEAVE-ARRIVE, END-BEGIN, SHED-EMERGE. These are the tensions of conversion and spiritual awakening.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
08c. 1948 ADBy law, a slaw was three-fifths of a person. It came to me that what I’d just suggested would seem paramount to proclaiming vegetables equal to animals, animals equal to humans, women equal to men, men equal to angels. I was upending the order of creation. Strangest of all, it was the first time thoughts of equality had entered my head, and I could only attribute it to God, with whom I’d lately taken up and who was proving to be more insurrectionary than law-abiding.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
09c. 1948 ADI have come here not to find answers, but to find a way to live in a world without any.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
11c. 1948 ADLook at her good, Lily," she said, "'cause you're seeing the end of something.""I am?""Yes, you are, because as long as people have been on this earth, the moon has been a mystery to us. Think about it. She is strong enough to pull the oceans, and when she dies away, she always comes back again. My mama used to tell me Our Lady lived on the moon and that I should dance when her face was bright and hibernate when it was dark." August stared at the sky a long moment and then, turning toward the house, said, "Now it won't ever be the same, not after they've landed up there and walked around on her. She'll be just one more science project.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
12c. 1948 ADEvery person on the face of the earth makes mistakes, Lily. Every last one. We're all so human. Your mother made a terrible mistake, but she tried to fix it.''Good night,' I said, and rolled onto my side.'There is nothing perfect,' August said from the doorway. 'There is only life.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
13c. 1948 ADI was not sorry for loving Charleston or for leaving it. Geography had made me who I was.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
14c. 1948 ADThe whole problem with people is they know what matters but they don't choose it. ~Secret Lives of BeesSue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
15c. 1948 ADYou've been halfway living your life for too long. May was saying that when it's time to die, go ahead and die, and when it's time to live, live. Don't sort-of-maybe live, but live like you're going all out, like you're not afraid.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
16c. 1948 ADThis surprised me because it made me realize that what I sought was not outside myself. It was within me, already there, waiting. Awakening was really the act of remembering myself, remembering this deep Feminine Source.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
17c. 1948 ADAnd when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
18c. 1948 ADAnd whatever it is that keeps widening your heart that's Mary too not only the power inside you but the love. And when you get down to it Lily that's the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love - but to persist in love.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
19c. 1948 ADI have knots in my years that I can`t undo, and this is one of the worst--the night I did wrong and Mauma got caughtSue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
20c. 1948 ADI think there must be a place inside of us where dreams go and wait their turn.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
21c. 1948 ADI can't explain exactly why it lives within me for so long and passionately. But race matters to me; racial equality matters to me, as does gender. There is something about these kinds of social injustices that go to the deep of me.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
22c. 1948 ADI learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It's a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process. It's not something that happens overnight. It's an evolution of the heart.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
23c. 1948 ADThere's a gap somehow between empathy and activism. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of 'soul force' - something that emanates from a deep truth inside of us and empowers us to act. Once you identify your inner genius, you will be able to take action, whether it's writing a check or digging a well.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
24c. 1948 ADI learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It's a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process.Sue Monk Kidd / quote ↗
