Quotes of Harold S. Kushner - somelinesforyou

“ God’s role is not to make our lives easier, to make the hard things go away, or to do them for us. God’s role is to give us the vision to know what we need to do, to bless us with the qualities of soul that we will need in order to do them ourselves, no matter how hard they may be, and to accompany us on that journey. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ God does not send the problem, the illness, the accident, the hurricane, and God does not take them away when we find the right words and rituals with which to beseech Him. Rather, God sends us strength and determination of which we did not believe ourselves capable, so that we can deal with, or live with, problems that no one can make go away. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ What God does is promise us, I will be with you; you will feel burdened but you will never feel abandoned. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ God does not send the problem. God sends us the strength to deal with the problem. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ It isn’t God’s job to make sick people healthy. That’s the doctors’ job. God’s job is to make sick people brave, and in my experience, that’s something God does really well. Prayer, as I understand it, is not a matter of begging or bargaining. It is the act of inviting God into our lives so that, with God’s help, we will be strong enough to resist temptation and resilient enough not to be destroyed by life’s unfairness. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ There is an old Chinese tale about the woman whose only son had died. In her grief, she went to the holy man and said, 'What prayers, what magical incantations do you have to bring my son back to life?' Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her, 'Fetch me a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow. We will use it to drive the sorrow out of your life.' The woman set off at once in search of that magical mustard seed. She came first to a splendid mansion, knocked at the door and said, 'I am looking for a home that has never known sorrow. Is this such a place? It is very important to me.' They told her 'You've certainly come to the wrong place,' and began to describe all the tragic things that had recently befallen them. The woman said to herself, 'Who is better able to help these poor unfortunate people than I, who have had misfortune of my own?' She stayed to comfort them, then went on in her search for a home that had never known sorrow. But wherever she turned, hovels and in palaces, she found one tale after another of sadness and misfortune. Ultimately, she became so involved in ministering to other people's grief that she forgot about her quest for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that it had in fact drive the sorrow out of her life. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ We pray to you, O God... for strength, determination, and willpower, to do instead of just to pray, to become instead of merely to wish. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ There seems to be something in the human soul that causes us to think less of ourselves every time we do something wrong… And maybe it is good for us to feel that way. It may make us more sensitive to what we do wrong and move us to repent and grow… ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ There seems to be something in the human soul that causes us to think less of ourselves every time we do something wrong… And maybe it is good for us to feel that way. It may make us more sensitive to what we do wrong and move us to repent and grow… ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ There seems to be something in the human soul that causes us to think less of ourselves every time we do something wrong… And maybe it is good for us to feel that way. It may make us more sensitive to what we do wrong and move us to repent and grow… ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ There seems to be something in the human soul that causes us to think less of ourselves every time we do something wrong… And maybe it is good for us to feel that way. It may make us more sensitive to what we do wrong and move us to repent and grow… ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ We pray to you, O God... for strength, determination, and willpower, to do instead of just to pray, to become instead of merely to wish. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ We pray to you, O God... for strength, determination, and willpower, to do instead of just to pray, to become instead of merely to wish. ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ There seems to be something in the human soul that causes us to think less of ourselves every time we do something wrong… And maybe it is good for us to feel that way. It may make us more sensitive to what we do wrong and move us to repent and grow… ”

- Harold S. Kushner

“ There seems to be something in the human soul that causes us to think less of ourselves every time we do something wrong… And maybe it is good for us to feel that way. It may make us more sensitive to what we do wrong and move us to repent and grow… ”

- Harold S. Kushner
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