Barbara johnson quotes

The joy of motherhood: what a mother experiences when all her children are in bed

We can choose to gather to our hearts the thorns of disappointment, failure, loneliness, and dismay in our present situation. Or we can gather the flowers of God's grace, boundless love, abiding presence, and unmatched joy. I choose to gather the flowers.

Time mellows people as it mellows wine, as long as the grapes are good. You may set out to be a businesswoman or businessman but in the course of time end up caring for a dying parent, orphaned niece, or disabled brother. You may encounter illness yourself and end up being a writer, touching the heartstrings, not the purse strings of other people. That's why it's best to always be true to yourself and God and to be flexible within His will. He will use you.

We can never untangle all the woes in other people's lives. We can't produce miracles overnight. But we can bring a cup of cool water to a thirsty soul, or a scoop of laughter to a lonely heart.

A thin line separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt. Our lives constantly walk that line. When we slip off on one side or the other, we're taken by surprise. But who said there wouldn't be surprises? Knowing God just means that all the rules will be fair; at the end of our life drama, we'll see that. We never know how things will turn out, but if we know with certainty they will make sense regardless of how they turn out, we're on to something.

Being codependent means that when you die, someone else's life passes before your eyes.

Violets are God's apology for February.

Forgiveness is a stunning principle, your ticket out of hate and fear and chaos.

The most important things in your home are people.

Are our ways of teaching students to ask some questions always correlative with our ways of teaching them not to ask - indeed, to be unconscious of - others? Does the educational system exist in order to promulgate knowledge, or is its main function rather to universalize a society’s tacit agreement about what it has decided it does not and cannot know?

Growing is a lifetime job, and we grow most when we're down in the valleys, where the fertilizer is.

Love is what makes two people sit in the middle of a bench when there is plenty of room at both ends.

The secret of growing younger is counting blessings, not birthdays.

God never gives up on us no matter how hard we try to get ourselves loose. God does not let go. That doesn't mean he controls everything we do. It doesn't mean he puts a bridle on us and leads us by the nose. He gives each one of us free will and common sense and a spirit that can communicate with his. When we go through afflictions, he allows us to choose our response. But no matter what our response may be, he sticks around to the bitter end.

Laughter dulls the sharpest pain and flattens out the greatest stress. To share it is to give a gift of health.

Live every day to fulfill your personal mission. God has a reason for whatever season you are living through right now. A season of loss or blessing? A season of activity or hibernation? A season of growth or incubation? You may think you're on a detour, but God knows the best way for you to reach your destination.

Kids can be a pain in the neck when they're not a lump in your throat.

Whatever it is probably won't go away, so we might as well live and laugh through it. When we double over laughing, we're bending so we won't break. If you think your particular troubles are too heavy and too traumatic to laugh about, remember that laughing is like changing a baby's diaper. It doesn't solve any problems permanently, but it makes things more acceptable for awhile.

Laughter is to life what shock absorbers are to automobiles. It won't take the potholes out of the road, but it sure makes the ride smoother

Teaching literature is teaching how to read. How to notice things in a text that a speed-reading culture is trained to disregard, overcome, edit out, or explain away; how to read what the language is doing, not guess what the author was thinking; how to take evidence from a page, not seek a reality to substitute for it.

Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.

Life is too short to spend it being angry, bored, or dull.

A lot of kneeling keeps one in good standing.

Humor is the chocolate chips in the ice cream of life.

Pain is inevitable. Misery is optional

Your face is a billboard advertising your philosophy of life!

As you're rushing through life, take time to stop a moment, look into people's eyes, say something kind, and try to make them laugh!

My karma just ran over my dogma.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go there right away.

Motherhood: if it were going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor.

Forgiveness is a stunning principle, your ticket out of hate and fear and chaos. ... I know what regret feels like; I've earned my credentials. But I also know what forgiveness feels like, because God has so graciously forgiven me.

Attitude is the mind's paintbrush; it can color any situation.

We cannot protect ourselves from trouble, but we can dance through the puddles of life with a rainbow smile, twirling the only umbrella we need -- the umbrella of God's love.

We spend our lives dreaming of the future, not realizing that a little of it slips away every day.

All we can take with us to heaven is what we leave behind in the lives we touch.

Smile...it kills time between disasters.

We are destined for joy no matter how difficult our daily life. Something in us responds to the happiness other people experience, because we glimpse life as God intended it to be.

True love doesn't have a happy ending, because true love never ends. Letting go is one way of saying I love you.

Grudges are like hand grenades: it is wise to release them before they destroy you.

Winners see an answer for every problem; losers see a problem in every answer!

Have we forgotten that we're all born the same way: naked, wet, and hungry? Then things get worse!

Once a reporter stood in front of a fire as it consumed a house and then he turned to see the homeowners and their little son watching it burn. The reporter, fishing for a human interest angle, said to the boy, "Son, it looks like you don't have a home anymore." The little boy promptly answered, "Oh, yes, we have a home. We just don't have a house to put it in."

A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.

Choices not chance determine your destiny.

We are Easter people living in a Good Friday world.

I'm glad God has all the answers, 'cause I barely understand the questions.

If you can forgive the person you were, accept the person you are, and believe in the person you will become, you are headed for joy. So celebrate your life.

Live for today, but hold your hands open to tomorrow. Anticipate the future and its changes with joy. There is a seed of God's love in every event, every unpleasant situation in which you may find yourself.

Always remember that better days are ahead - if not in this life, in the next.

How will you use the years God gives you? Will you be remembered for being a fault-finder? Or will you be known for your quick smile, the laugh lines around your eyes, and the twinkle deep within? After all, God gives you your face, but you provide the expression!

God will never let you sink under your circumstances. He always provides a safety net and His love always encircles.

The attitude of kindness is everyday stuff like a great pair of sneakers. Not frilly. Not fancy. Just plain and comfortable.

No one likes change... but babies in diapers.

Life is a refining process. Our response to it determines whether we'll be ground down or polished up. On a piano, one person sits down and plays sonatas, while another merely bangs away at "Chopsticks." The piano is not responsible. It's how you touch the keys that makes the difference. It's how you play what life gives you that determines your joy and shine.

When we have hope, we are showing that we trust God to work out the situation. Trust is the only way we're going to make it through and be a part of God's marvelous plan for His child.

When you live in the present moment, time stands still. Accept your circumstances and live them. If there is an experience ahead of you, have it! But if worries stand in your way, put them off until tomorrow. Give yourself a day off from worry. You deserve it. Some people live with a low-grade anxiety tugging at their spirit all day long. They go to sleep with it, wake up with it, carry it around at home, in town, to church, and with friends. Here's a remedy: Take the present moment and find something to laugh at. People who laugh, last.

If things are tough, remember that every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there. The almighty Father will use life's reverses to move you forward. So do not keep grieving about a bitter experience. The present is slipping by while you are regretting the past and worrying about the future. Regret will not prevent tomorrow's sorrows; it will only rob today of its strength.

If we give someone a piece of bread and butter, that's kindness, but if we put jelly or peanut butter on it, then it's Loving Kindness.

Faith is seeing light with your heart when all your eyes see is darkness.

Prayer is asking for rain and faith is carrying the umbrella.

You have to look for the joy. Look for the light of God that is hitting your life, and you will find sparkles you didn't know were there.

I think living to be one hundred would be great, but living to fifty twice would be so much better.

Stop what you are doing long enough to enjoy the sunset, listen to a special song that lifts you up, or pick up the phone and share some special thought with a caring friend.

Worry is the senseless process of cluttering up tomorrows opportunities with leftover problems from today

It never hurts your eyesight to look on the bright side of things.

Don’t let your life speed out of control. Live intentionally. Do something today that will last beyond your lifetime.

Change is a process not an event.

Old florists never die. They just make other arrangements.

I don't have to figure out why or how or when. God has a plan, and I'm committed to it. That commitment frees me from having to worry about the details.

Allow your dreams a place in your prayers and plans. God-given dreams can help you move into the future He is preparing for you.

Life can be wonderful. Do your best not to miss it!” Enjoy what it is before it isn't anymore. Dare to slip on a pair of bunny slippers once in a while! Surprise yourself! Enjoy the little things because one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things!