“I often remind Nick these last fifteen years of our lives are the most...” — Mary Portzen Quote

“I often remind Nick these last fifteen years of our lives are the most important ones because we are following Jesus and walking the path to heaven together. I’d like to think we’ll have more than fifteen years together, but Nick is in his early seventies, and I just qualified for Medicare. We can’t count on it. What we do count on is God will give us enough time to fulfill His purpose for our lives.”

“It isn’t that rote prayers don’t have a place as a meditative form of prayer. After all, Jesus taught His disciples to pray the Our Father. But rote prayers alone are limiting. If the only conversations I have with a friend or spouse are reading or speaking from a memorized script, how close would I get to them? How well would we know each other without genuine conversation? I could be using all the right words, but would I be having heartfelt talks that encourage and strengthen intimacy? God desires that same intimacy, the kind we seek with a spouse or close friend.”

“We concluded the only way to decide what pleased our Father was to measure everything according to His Word, meditating on “whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable” (Philippians 4:8).”

“if someone has just hurt you or broken your heart, if someone has just died, all the grace you need is there-waiting for you to receive it. As long as we are pulled inward-despair and self attention, we aren't free to reach for God's grace. If we mean to leave ourselves alone, we must keep a hand free.”

“If the creation of the world needed to be perfect (absolutely perfect), then why create (design) to arrive at the same point of the Absolute, which would be pure idleness, an idle walk from one perfection to another or from nothing to another nothing? If the purpose of creating is not only in creating but more in existing, and not only in existing per se but in meaningful and purposeful existing, then this creating or creation must first and foremost accommodate its purpose rather than perfection itself. Its perfection must be valued and measured by and through its purpose and meaning rather than by pure perfection. Measure through purpose makes us see the deeper importance and meaning in the lack of ordinary perfection. Perfection and absolute goodness (benevolence) are not necessarily as we see them and would like to see them. When we measure ideals through purpose, the idea, function, and manifestation of perfection and purpose become more pronounced, although subtly.”

“Life is so delicate; balance within.”

“The wrong people arrive at the right time, and so you trust them.
Because of that, when the right people arrive at the wrong time, you don’t.”