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" The Road goes ever on and on,” said Bilbo the hobbit in the first book of Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings.[8] It does, indeed, particularly the pilgrim road of spiritual growth. No one escapes the summons to journey; we all walk toward Christ . . . or something else. But when the journey is begun in the profound fellowship of home, with those who are farther ahead standing beside us, equipping us, whispering their wisdom in our ears as we fare forth, our journey becomes not an individual quest but a shared pilgrimage. We are drawn forth by the stories of those who have gone before into a living story of our own. Home is the shelter in which those quests of soul begin, in which we are strengthened for our adventure, equipped for the long road of faith that lies ahead. Home is the refuge whose peace allows us a glimpse of the ultimate good we will journey to find. Said Bilbo of the road, “I must follow, if I can.”[9] May we follow the road of faith all our days. "
― Sally Clarkson , The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming
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" In a culture that seeks only to anesthetize, escape, and ignore hurt, I believe we are called to experience, acknowledge, and feel the pain of life so that redemption can be achieved. Because only when we have walked through the dark can we appreciate and crave the light. Pain can be the muscle that tears to make us stronger and the surgery that cuts to make us whole. So instead of running from the hurt, we must embrace it, own it, live with it, and trust in God's ability to use what feels like death as the catalyst for finding life. "
― Sally Clarkson , Different: The Story of an Outside-The-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him