“If anything matters, then everything matters.”

“Being always transcends appearance-that which only seems to be. Once you begin to know the being behind the very pretty or very ugly face, as determined by your bias, the surface appearances fade away until they simply no longer matter.”

“...you are surrounded by beauty, the wonder of Creation, art, your music and culture, the sounds of laughter and love, of whispered hopes and celebrations, of new life and transformation, of reconciliation and forgiveness. These also are the results of your choices and every choice matters, even the hidden ones.”

“It's quite simple really. Being always transcends appearance-that which only seems to be. Once you begin to know the being behind the very pretty or very ugly face, as determined by your bias, the surface appearances fade away until they simple no longer matter. That is why Elousia is such a wonderful name. God, who is the ground of all being, dwells in, around, and through all things-ultimately emerging as the real-and appearances that mask that reality will fall away.”

“when I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you.”

“...humans are not defined by their limitations, but by the intentions that I have for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in my image.”

“Tony stood up and began pacing the room. “Jack,” heconfessed, “my life that I defined as a success is actually a totalshambles, and yet you’re suggesting that underneath it all, thereis an unimaginable beauty? Are you telling me that I matter?That even though I am this ugly, ordinary-looking root, that I wasdesigned and intended to express a unique and extraordinaryflower? 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 everyhuman being, each person born—”“Conceived!” interrupted Jack.“Each person ‘conceived’ on the planet, each one living inlife-before, each one is a root in which a flower is waiting?Right?”Again Jack nodded”