Reading is a good thing

I just got off the phone with my buddy Clark who asked me how things were going. I went on about the usual things, talking about my building and students that were getting into little incidents, and about school and then I said..."I've never read so much in my life... but it's a good thing I think." He confirmed and said, "yeah, that is good for you."
Here are some sweet excerpts and quotes that I have found in a couple of the books I'm reading.

Fabric of Faithfulness by Steven Garber
"Very often in life people don't want to tell you the not-so-good thing. It is important to develop a community of people who are honest to keep you straight."

"As I have gotten involved in politics and business, I am more and more convinced that the people you choose to have around you have more to do with how you act upon what you believe than what you read or the ideas that influence you."

"One of my prayers materially is the Proverbs 30 prayer: "Lord, give me enough that I shall not want and cry against you-but don't give me so much so that I am full and forget you." I pray that for myself because I know my limitations. God, don't make me wealthy because I might forget you. So before we even get to that point, why don't we not aspire to wealth. It's a struggle not to let the heart get what it wants. But God is a shield to those who walk in integrity. My Life is safe. I'm a single woman. I'm vulnerable to a lot of things. But I know that I am safe when I am obedient, and I feel insecure if I step out. This is a set of internal boundaries that I know and I walk within sometimes better than others."

Forgetting Ourselves on Purpose by Brian Mahan
"Now-here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God-that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love."

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

"In ambition, the prestige of the achievement often seems to depend more on the dignity of the role itself than on the dignity of the one who fills it."