Kim Rasmussen

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It’s tempting to think that my present weakness makes me fundamentally different from Christ. And then, as a result, it’s tempting to think that such weakness must be incompatible with Christ’s divine strength. If this is true, then, to be like Christ, I would have to be untroubled by time and untouched by cares. I would have to avoid suffering rather than caring for it. But this is backwards. Christ’s strength doesn’t simply rescue me from my weakness and vulnerability. As I’ve argued, it seems clear that his strength doesn’t even save him from his own power to be acted upon. Christ is strong enough to be vulnerable. Similarly, my weakness leaves me exposed to Christ, vulnerable to his care, and open to sharing a life with him. This weakness is the ground we share. It’s the ground of life. It’s ground zero for God’s promise. Without this weakness, I wouldn’t need him. I’d be walled up, alone, inside my own perfect strength.”
― Adam S. Miller, An Early Resurrection: Life in Christ before You Die

“Loving someone is like moving into a house," Sonja used to say. "At first you fall in love with all the new things, amazed every morning that all this belongs to you, as if fearing that someone would suddenly come rushing in through the door to explain that a terrible mistake had been made, you weren't actually supposed to live in a wonderful place like this. Then over the years the walls become weathered, the wood splinters here and there, and you start to love that house not so much because of all its perfection, but rather for its imperfections. You get to know all the nooks and crannies. How to avoid getting the key caught in the lock when it's cold outside. Which of the floorboards flex slightly when one steps on them or exactly how to open the wardrobe doors without them creaking. These are the little secrets that make it your home.”
― Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
― Stephen King

“According to Isaiah it is necessary, at least for a time, that the messiah go unrecognized. It is crucial that, at least for a while, he remain hidden, that he not shine forth, that he have “no form, nor comeliness” and that he possess “no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa. 53:2). The Messiah’s coming must be delayed. This is necessary, at least in part, because the very act of recognition has messianic force. The shock of recognition changes us. The advent of the messianic depends on our seeing what was previously unseen. It should be no surprise, then, if the messianic is initially obscure, hidden under a rock, given in a grove, or stowed in a stable.”
― Adam S. Miller, Rube Goldberg Machines: Essays in Mormon Theology