Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

That Love Conquers, And Swells And Comforts

That Love Conquers, And Swells And Comforts

So, it turns out that love conquers anything?

I enjoy how the Bible paints a picture of God in this way.

It starts by saying that God’s primary attribute is love (1 John 4:7-11).

Later, of course, it points to the attributes of this love (1 Corinthians 13).

Everything we want is relational.

Love is relational too.

I don’t think that’s an accident.

This is the most profound spiritual truth I know: that even when we’re most sure that love can’t conquer all, it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us, in the guise of our friends, and there it swells and comforts. It gives us second winds, third winds, hundredth winds. It struck me that I have spent so much time trying to pump my way into feeling the solace I used to feel in my parents’ arms.

-Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies

The Hardest Person To Forgive

The Hardest Person To Forgive

The hardest person to forgive might not be the one you think.

It might be you.

The hardest part of forgiveness, of course, is what it requires.

I mean, how cool would it be if we could just forgive where it made sense, allowing for hurt feelings and reasonable exceptions.

Most people do it this way, after all.

But no.

“Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”

The rub of it is that blasted little part.

One Sunday when I was struggling with this, the Scripture reading came from the sixth chapter of Luke: “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” Now, try as I might, I cannot find a loophole in that. It does not say, “Forgive everyone, unless they’ve said something rude about your child.” And it doesn’t even say, “Just try.” It says, If you want to be forgiven, if you want to experience that kind of love, you have to forgive everyone in your life—everyone, even the very worst boyfriend you ever had—even, for God’s sake, yourself.

-Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies

Sterling Terrell