Chrisanne

“Better to struggle through life with a broken wing than have no wings at all.”
― Elizabeth Goudge, The Dean's Watch

“But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say 'My tooth is aching' than to say 'My heart is broken'. Yet if the cause is accepted and faced, the conflict will strengthen and purify the character and in time the pain will usually pass. Sometimes, however, it persists and the effect is devastating; if the cause is not faced or not recognised, it produces the dreary state of the chronic neurotic. But some by heroism overcome even chronic mental pain. They often produce brilliant work and strengthen, harden, and sharpen their characters till they become like tempered steel.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

“Could mere loving be a life's work? Could it be a career like marriage or nursing the sick or going on the stage? Could it be adventure?”
― Elizabeth Goudge, The Dean's Watch