#apt

Oh, Cole,” she said, “the jewelry box is lovely—” “It’s not for jewelry.” She gazed up at him, surprised by his somber tone. “Then what—” “It’s a memory box, Devon. Something in which to store all those memories you collect, so you’ll never lose a single one.” He paused, looking both tender and serious at once. “Unlike the wedding gift you gave me, this one comes with strings attached. If you accept it, I expect the next fifty years of your life in return to help fill it up.” Devon bit her lip to hide a wayward, trembling smile. “Only the next fifty?” He shrugged. “We can negotiate after that.” She nodded, swallowing past the tight knot in her throat. “That sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. ↗

— Victoria Lynne

#cole #devon #victoria-lynne #love

I opened my mouth. My tongue wouldn’t form words. I had so much to say. I took a bite of spaghetti. Time passed. When she stopped speaking, her eyes were wet. She wasn’t crying, but her eyes were full. Full of eighteen years of what someone had taken from her. I smiled and stood. I looked away. I ran my fingers through my hair. As I carried my plate to the sink she raised her hand to her face. Wiping eighteen years of love from her eyes, she spoke, “I love you Marc. ↗

— Scott Hildreth

#love

A house you came to love was like a person, and loved you back, and then you belonged to it forever. ↗

— Elswyth Thane

#love

Bishop Hostettler explained that baptism was not the means by which one is saved, but simply an outward sign of salvation. Just as an Amishman’s beard is an indication of his marriage and commitment to his wife, so baptism symbolizes our covenant with Christ. ↗

— J.E.B. Spredemann

#marriage #salvation #marriage

I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; Henceforth I never will be Romeo. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#birth #identity #inspiration #inspirational #life

Jan van Leyden announced that a new world order [anabaptism] had been revealed to him and promptly began to implement it. Money was abolished; polygamy was legalized; marriage was made compulsory for women. Those who dissented faced execution. ↗

— Alister E. McGrath

#christianity #reformation #marriage

You know how sometimes you remember a place you once loved, a movie you’ve enjoyed, only to be disappointed when you return to that place or see that movie for a second time? Well, it wasn’t disappointing. She sounds exactly as I remember her—and there is still something so warm and caring about her that it is difficult to hate her for how she abandoned us. ↗

— Christina Westover

#inspiration #literary-quote #memories #poisoning-sylvie #recapturing-memories

According to my present theme the writer of imagination would attain closest to the conditions of music not when his words are dissassociated from natural objects and specified meanings but when they are liberated from the usual quality of that meaning by transportation into another medium, the imagination. ↗

— William Carlos Williams

#imagination

Prominent Christians in Constantine's time waited to be baptized until their deathbeds lest they commit a "major"sin that couldn't be forgiven of those already baptized. Others felt anyone who did anything to avoid martyrdom were apostates had no valid subsequent ministry. ↗

— Thomas F. Madden

#forgiveness #forgiveness

[Marriage] happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out. ↗

— Michel de Montaigne

#captivity #freedom #marriage #married-life #matrimony