Open Quote

My sister texted me yesterday and in the conversation she said she was a quoter. I wondered for just an instant before a second text came through with a goofy faced emoji telling me that spell check had changed "quilter" to "quoter".  I laughed and then typed back. Yes! You are a "quilter" and actually, if truth be told… I suppose that I am the one who is a “quoter”!

For I do love quotes.  From Winnie the Pooh:

“If there is ever a tomorrow that we are not together, there is one thing you should always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is: even if we’re apart, I will always be with you in the heart.”

To Shakespeare:

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt"

I love to hear what intelligent people have to say. From Albert Einstein:

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding”

To Mahatma Gandi:

“Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening”

And the brilliance of these intelligent people is not only thinking such things but writing them down for us to read.

I am exceedingly grateful to them as I enjoy reading their words; taking them into my mind and then swirling them around to mingle with my own thoughts.

I’m appreciative of people who gain wisdom and then share it even if like Anne Frank (a young girl who with her family in 1940, was trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands and as persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where her father worked and who from then until the family's arrest by the Gestapo in August 1944,  kept a diary she had received as a birthday present, and wrote in it regularly) wonders....

“Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I've never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.”

And then she goes on to pen thoughts like:

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only there does one feel that all is as it should be.”

and...

"The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands".

Following their arrest, the Franks were transported to concentration camps. In October or November 1944, Anne and her sister were transferred to a concentration camp where they died (probably of typhus) a few months later. Anne's father, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved by one of the helpers and his efforts led to its publication (now translated into approximately 60 languages).

I know from my own experiences, although nothing compared to Anne's, that life isn’t always easy.

But in my own tough times I can read Ralph Waldo Emerson's words that make me contemplate:

“Bad times have a scientific value; these are the occasions that a good learner would not miss.”

And as if he reads my mind that is wrestling with concerns today as I think "OK, What do I do next? and "How can I do it alone?" I find further encouragement in his words:

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

So yes, I am a quoter.  I am fed by words of wisdom. I am nourished by the lyrics of verse and songs; I am strengthened by the experiences of those who think deeply and write things like:

"Have faith in your journey. Everything had to happen exactly as it did to get you where you’re going next!” – Mandy Hale.

And on a day, like today when I feel the pangs of aloneness more sharply than usual I am strengthened when I read this thought-provoking quote:

"You will one day stand aside and look at your difficult times, and you will realize that He was always there beside you." - Thomas S. Monson

So, as my sister uses her needle and thread to stitch beautiful quilts (since she truly is a quilter) which bring her peace to make and joy to share, I realize that I am indeed a quoter.  I find meaningful thoughts that I can weave together - bringing me a sense of peace that I can then share with others in a hope that they will feel the joy as well.  It's a good realization.

And that, I suppose, should be a Closed Quote...for now.