"So yes, what we desire is for you to 're-turn' to us, and then we come and make our home inside you, and then we share. The friendship is real, not merely imagined. We're meant to experience this life, your life, together in a dialogue, sharing the journey. You get to share in our wisdom and learn to love with our love, and we get...to hear you grumble and gripe and complain...!" (p. 175)

You have judged well

Mackenzie upon being asked to choose among his own children who would be sentenced to hell.

"I can't do this.

You must.

I...will...not...do...this!

You must.

I can't. I can't.

I won't! he screamed, and now the words and emotions came tumbling out.

Could I go instead? Please let me go for my children, please, I would be happy to...

Please, I am begging you. Please... Please..."

"Mackenzie, Mackenzie, now you sound like Jesus. You have judged well, Mackenzie.

I am so proud of you."(p. 163)

Humans often do this...

"Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself - to serve. Humans often do this - in touching the infirm and sick, in serving the ones whose minds have left to wander, in relating to the poor, in loving the very old and the very young, or even in caring for the other who has assumed a position of power over them." (p. 107)

Exp and Resp...

One of the core concepts in the book:

To live with expectancy instead of expectation and to respond rather than assume responsibility...

"What I do have is a constant and living expectancy in our relationship, and I give you an ability to respond to any situation and circumstance in which you find yourself. To the degree that you resort to expectations and responsibilities, to that degree you neither know me or trust me." (p. 206)

"Mack, if anything matters, everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again." (p. 235)

A false sense of security...

"People are afraid of uncertainty, afraid of the future. These institutions, these structures, and ideologies are all a vain effort to create some sense of certainty and security where there isn't any. It's all false! Systems cannot provide you security, only I can." (p. 179-180)

...what we will achieve...

"Remember, I am not about performance and fitting into man-made structures; I am about being. As you grow in relationship with me, what you do will simply reflect who you really are." (p. 148)

"When a disaster happens those same people will turn against the false powers they trusted. In their disappointment, they either become softened toward me or they become bolder in their independence. If you could only see how all of this ends and what we will achieve without the violation of one human will - then you would understand. One day you will." (p. 125)

Questions of the Heart

"It is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart and they will never love you." (p. 198)

"When I dwell with you, I do so in the present - I live in the present. Not the past, although much can be remembered and learned by looking back, but only for a visit, not an extended stay. And for sure, I do not dwell in the future you visualize or imagine."

"Mack, do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictacted by fear of some kind, rarely if ever, pictures me there with you?" (p. 141-142)