Guys. THIS BOOK. It was mentioned in a blog post I came across years ago and it sounded like it would be an interesting read, but I had NO IDEA the wisdom that would be found in these pages.
Kerry Egan is a hospice chaplain and in this book she shares some of her patients’ stories and final thoughts on life - at least the ones they wanted shared.
**Quotes**
On God and love: “If God is love, and I believe that to be true, then we learn about God when we learn about love.”
“Even the people who did not know love in their families, knew that they SHOULD have been loved. They somehow knew love by its absence.”
On shame: “Shame comes from who you believe you ARE, not just what you have done or felt.”
When some things aren’t so b/w: “You have to live in the gray, or you got no kindness in your heart.”
“It’s far more interesting and ultimately peaceful to live in the space between.”
On the difference between being tough and being strong: “You have to be tough because you’re not strong.”
“Two ways to go through the world, two ways to deal with loss that is an inevitable experience in life - with a hard shell (tough) or with a rock solid backbone (strong).”
On the unconditional love of children and on growing up: “but I think we need MORE love as we get older, not less. Life gets harder, not easier, but we stop loving each other so much, just when we need love the most.”
On change: “If the good things didn’t change, then neither would the bad things. And thank God the bad things change. No matter how bad something is, it’ll change too.”
On not wasting your life: “There is nothing stopping you from acting with the same urgency the dying feel.”