I’m a nerd and I know it! No longer am I going to hide from my love of words and excitedly looking up their definitions to know their origin and understand their meaning.

Trying to figure out a way to share some of the sentences that have impacted my heart, I researched the word “cathartic”. I thought the word had something to do with “action” (i.e. – catalyst) and healing. Thinking I had the gist but, wanting to assure I was using the word the correct way. Actually, the meaning was better than I thought:

Catharsis (from the Greek κάθαρσις katharsis meaning “purification” or “cleansing”) is the purification and purgation of emotions—especially pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration

Ooooo, I liked it. This word describes what some of the words that I have read had done for me. Alas, the weren’t mine. So, I clarified the word quote:

Quotation is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source

Voila, Cathartic Quotes, a spot at JustDoToday.org that allows me to share some of what I have read, that others have said, that had an impact on how I thought which resulted in a purification or renewal of my emotions. Each gathering of words, a grace given, altering my thinking for that day and thereafter. Whether it is a quote, a creed or words of wisdom, I’m going to pass along the reflections of others that helped me along my way.

I knew that how I responded to the accident and functioned as a father would make all the difference in the world to them. They were my “big project.” As it turned out, they were also my redemption, but I didn’t know it at the time.

A Grace Disguised ~ How the Soul Grows Through Grief

Authored by Jerry Sittser