“Bless those who challenge us to grow, to stretch, to move beyond the knowable, to come back home to our essential nature. Bless those who challenge us for they remind us of doors we have closed and doors we have yet to open.”

“We can give to those who will give back to us. But we're more blessed when we give to those who cannot; that's giving mercy.”

“Maybe it’s not the doors that open in our lives, but the doors that close that define us. That guide us. Because they force us to move on. Instead of thinking about what we lose, look at what we can gain.”

“Blessed are those who imitate us for they shall inherit our faults.”

“What we have in life that we can count on is who we are and where we come from, she thought absently. For better or worse, that is what we have to sustain us in our endevors, to buttress us in our darker moments, and to remind us of our identity. Without those things, we are adrift.”

“Though we have rightly applauded our ancestors for their spiritual achievements (and do not and must not discount them now), those of us who prevail today will have done no small thing. The special spirits who have been reserved to live in this time of challenges and who overcome will one day be praised for their stamina by those who pulled handcarts.”