Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie

WOW - this was a great book and I learned so much about life that I should have known, but didn't. That maybe I do know, but haven't practiced. I learned about humility, and soul searching, and making important things matter. I learned about life and I learned about dying with dignity. I learned about a man who gave his life to teaching, and used his dying as one final teaching moment. This was a great read and I would definitely recommend it to friends and family, especially those who are searching and trying to find something that makes them happy...because cars and homes and material possessions will never fulfill that emptiness. This fit right in with my pastor's message today....If we love God, we have to love others. So in my loving God, I automatically love others, and loving God and loving others will fill any emptiness that we feel.

Here are some quotes I took from the book that mean something to me and I thought I would put them here so even when I return the book to the library, I will have a place to come back and look at them:

"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it."

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." "...We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said, 'Love is the only rational act'"

In response to the question, why do people always say they wish they were young again, he answered, "You know that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more."

"Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

"Do the kind of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back."

"People are only mean when they are threatened, and that's what our culture does. That's what our economy does. Even people who have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture."

"...The little things I can obey. But the big things--how we think, what we value--those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone--or any society--determine those for you"

"It's not just other people we need to forgive, we also need to forgive ourselves...for all the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened."

"Death ends a life, not a relationship."

"As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can dies without ever really going away. Al the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on -- in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here"

And with that I will end this post. I am heading to work in the nursery at church.