Forgiveness is alchemy. To take something so base and ugly that you don't even want to think of it and turn it into something noble and fine. That is true alchemy. Remember that. It's not always easy, but if you can do that, you'll have a happy life.

Until we learn to love others as ourselves, it's difficult to blame broken people who desperately try to affirm themselves when no one else will.

God has decreed it so, that where tenderness of heart is, there mercy shall follow...

We will respond, even in the face of irony and slander, with the sweetness of love. We can afford to take this attitude because good anvils do not fear the blows of many hammers.

Reconciliation means you bury the hatchet, not necessarily the issue.

Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren't rubbed in but rubbed out.

Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution.

I'm convinced being generous is a better way to live. I'm convinced forgiving people and not carrying around bitterness is a better way to live. I'm convinced having compassion is a better way to live. I'm convinced pursuing peace in every situation is a better way to live. I'm convinced listening to the wisdom of others is a better way to live. I'm convinced being honest with people is a better way to live.

This is how you remember God: you bless those who need it the most in the same way that God blessed you when you needed it the most.

When you're fighting, it's absolutely crucial to keep remembering that they're trying to figure it out just like you are.

Arguing about how it literally happened can be an easy way to avoid facing the people in your life you need to forgive. For the people who first heard this story, the story would have had a provocative, unsettling effect. The Assyrians? The Assyrians were like a huge, gaping, open wound for the Israelites. Bless the Assyrians? The story is extremely subversive because it insists that your enemy may be more open to grace and love than you are.

Agape doesn't need a reason.