30 Favorite Mother Teresa Quotes

"A life not lived for others is not a life."

"Each one of them is Jesus in disguise."

"God doesn't require us to succeed; He only requires that you try."

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."

"I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?'"

"I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things."

"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

"If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve."

"If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are."

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

"I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world."

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

"Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it."

"Live simply so others may simply live."

"Peace begins with a smile."

"The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway."

"What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family."

"When you don't have anything, then you have everything."

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."

"Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one."

"It is a kingly act to assist the fallen."

"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love."

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile."

"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."

"One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody."

"We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love."

Words of Knopespiration!

This is the way I try to approach my job.  When people walk into our offices they need help and comfort.  They need things to be set right.  They aren't always in the best of moods, and why would they be?  They are going through something difficult, or they wouldn't be there.  They don't want to be there.  I get that.  They care very much about their particular set of circumstances, which in their eyes are the most important in the world.  Also very understandable.   Yet, despite the high stakes, burgeoning caseloads and my own physical and temporal limitations, I rarely find myself cranky.  They are allowing me to help, to make their circumstances better.  They have invited me into their lives.  I cherish the trust placed on me and the smiles that are won when I finish an interview or issue a supplement.  I am a very lucky, lucky girl.

What Kind of Lunatic Indeed, Leslie?

THIS.  This is why I love her.  :)

I've Never Been to Heaven, But I've Been to Oklahoma!

My Account of the 'Mile Wide Tornado: Oklahoma Disaster,' Discovery Channel Special Documentary (Full) May 20, 2013

When this happened, I was at work, 4 miles from ground zero.  We were given 10 minutes to abandon our glass front building and run for cover.  I was terrified.  Not one to hesitate, I grabbed my keys and purse and ran out to my car as quarter-size hail pelted my head and car.  We found shelter in a large hallway in the sub-floor of a mall across the street.  People  were crying.  A mother standing near me insisted her young son urinate in a mop bucket nearby.  "Don't let him do that," I told her, shaking my head in stern disapproval.  For whatever reason, she complied with my wishes. I don't know why I was so gruff.  I think I just wasn't ready to accept the terms of our current situation.  I wasn't ready for a real-life Katrina aftermath in the super dome event in the sub-floor of a dying cathedral of consumption.

We were given an all clear and we walked out of the dark hallway into the mall.  My friend and co-worker was crying hysterically.  She had heard that a tornado had hit two local elementary schools.  She believe  her children might be in them.  She was so panicked and terrified that she had become confused about the names of her children's own school. People were trying to connect with family members.  It was a scene of mass chaos.

 Leaving there, we were told that another tornado was bearing down soon.  I began to panic.  I tried to drive to my mothers house in OKC, but the streets were so flooded I couldn't get through. I found myself wandering glazed-eyed around a thrift store nearby.  I just needed to get my bearings.  My sense of spatial acuity was incredibly off. I was disoriented.  I tried numerous times to reach my children and I finally was able to connect with my son.  He was fine, but I didn't know how my daughter was doing. I didn't know where the tornado was heading. I was center OKC and my son was just on the south side of Moore in the adjacent city.   The radio stations weren't broadcasting the news.

When I finally made it out to my car, I found that the engine had died due to battery failure. because in my panic I had left the lights on.  A kind man jumped my car and I drove it out to the street, only to have it stall at a busy intersection.  I got out of my car and stood by the road.  I felt I was in danger sitting there in my car.  I felt so alone. Cell phone towers were down or blocked.  I  was finally able to reach my boyfriend who was also trying to traverse a panicked and flooded city from the university where he teaches. A wonderful couple reached out to me at the side of the road and offered to push my car with theirs into a nearby parking lot.  I was overwhelmed.  I thanked them profusely and gave them a hug.

We began to drive in the direction of our children.  We found that as hard as we tried, we couldn't get through.  The tornado had ripped our city in two.  On one side were my children and I was stuck on the other side.   I couldn't get home to my children. 11 hours later, our car overheating, we had to abandon our efforts.  Luckily, the mother of my boyfriend's children who also lives in our city offered to take my children in for the night.

As you can see from the video, it was an extremely frightening event.  I will not ever allow myself to be placed in similar circumstances. The people of Oklahoma are benevolent, as evidenced by the kindness extended to me by strangers.  However, the  Governor  of Oklahoma, despite the fact that tornadoes are a predictable part of our state's history, despite the fact that two elementary schools were destroyed, refuses to extend state money to build storm shelters in our elementary schools.  She has placed that burden on local government, whose revenues,  as you can imagine, vary drastically.  Like I said, I hate our state politics!

Homeless Lottery Winner

I love how after receiving the lottery money, he tries to give it away.  And the hug, the hug is the best.  :) This makes me choke up every time I watch it.

Let's Get This Party Started -- Swanson Style!