Quotable Ortberg

From his new book

Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them

“Every one of us pretends to be healthier and kinder than we really are; we all engage in what might be called ‘depravity management.’” p. 8

“If you think you can fit deep community into the cracks of an overloaded schedule—think again. Wise people do not try to microwave friendship, parenting, or marriage.” p. 52

“The yearning to attach and connect, to love and be loved, is the fiercest longing of the soul. Our need for community with people and the God who made them is to the human spirit what food and air and water are to the human body, and it will not go away even in the face of all the weirdness.” p. ##

“We live in a world of networking, contacts, rolodex files, quid pro quo’s; but when the relationship isn’t strategic anymore, when the sales dry up, when the plane lands; the relationship’s over. That may be a colleague; it may be a cordial, mutually beneficial acquaintance. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it is not a friendship.” p. 60

“There is a world of difference between being friendly to someone because they’re useful to you and being someone’s friend.” p. 61

“More than anything else, God uses people to heal people.” p. 64

“Always, the more spiritually mature you grow, the more you will find your heart being drawn to people, and want to reach out to people—especially those left out by society or those far from God.” p. 73

“Acceptance is an act of the heart. To accept someone is to affirm to them that you think it is a very good thing they are alive.” p. 139

Quotable Ortberg, page two

From Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them

“It is no accident that we speaking of paying attention to people; attention is the most valuable currency we have.” p. 159 This doesn’t really make sense to me?

“More often than you can imagine—when people are stressed, worried, preoccupied, lonely, or afraid—they carry this sign just beneath the surface: “Joy needed—please lighten up.” p. 160

Quotable Ortberg, page two

From Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them

“You may wonder when the other people in your life will be mature enough, healthy enough, normal enough that they’re a finely tuned machine, and you don’t have to work on relational stuff anymore. It will never happen. People you’re living with will never be that normal. Neither will you.” p. 171

“You are a guardian of the human spirit. You have the power to manipulate and coerce if you want to; you can avoid and ignore if you choose. But you can also ennoble and inspire. You can lift up and appeal to all that is good, honorable, and holy; You can remind fallible and finite people around you that they hold their lives and calling as a sacred trust; that their best efforts matter, their worst failures will one day be redeemed. Because the crucified one, who shouldered the burdened of the whole human race, who rose again will come back one day to honor all that is good and set right all that has gone wrong.” p. 176

“To be alive means to be in conflict.” p. 188

“Because reconciliation is the healing of our deepest longings, it is never too late to seek it.” p. 234

“There is a very important theological distinction between being a prophet and being a jerk. What burns deeply in the heart of a true prophet is not just anger, it’s love.” p. 261

“Accountability is a tool and a gift we give to one another to try to realize the growth that we could never know all by ourselves.” p. 262

“The ability to assign value is one of the rarest and most precious gifts in the world.” p. 305