"One especially troubling complaint of our time is there is no commonality among women. Across cultures and countries and even in our own neighborhoods, we women have become so diverse and so separated in our lifestyles, interests, and preoccupations that rarely do we have a friend such as our mothers had over the back fence, a neighbor to visit, to love, and to talk with. But we still need someone to listen when our joints ache, our children squabble, or (perhaps even more urgently) when we wish we had squabbling children or loved ones nearby to nurture. We must not let the modern world isolate, fragment, or distance us from those we can love and serve..."
"...To received the fullness God has intended for us, to offset the emptiness of isolation or hurt or sorrow... we are going to have to reach out with our hearts and let down some barriers. Most of us protect ourselves from pain- hurtful experiences and words that come from our friends, or enemies, and sometimes from within us- by building walls, emotional defenses around our hearts."
"But the same walls we build to protect ourselves can also isolate us, and that isolation leads to the problems we see so many others struggling with. Can we let down a few walls and find that we are in the embrace of God? Let's receive the spirit of holiness and let our cups be filled with living water. Let us receive in order to give."
-Patricia T. Holland, "Quiet Moments"
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