Welcoming Holland

But in the war for a place in the sun, we must never mistake conquest for final victory, and above all, we must never mistake failure for final defeat.  Because even if we do not find our place in the sun, or not quite the place we want, or a place where the sun is not as bright as we always dreamed it would be, this is not the end because this is not really the decisive war even though we spend so much of our lives assuming that it is.  The decisive war is the other one – to become fully human, which means to become compassionate, honest, brave.  And this is a war against the darkness which no man fights alone.  It is the war which every man can win who wills to win because it is the war which God also wills us to win and will arm us to win if only we will accept his armor.

– Frederick Buechner

Category: Quotes