If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms, living in the dark, with poop up to our chins. If you want to know only what you a...
I have these secret pangs of shame about being single, like I wasn't good enough to get a husband. Rita reminded me of something I'd told her once, about the five rules of the world as arrived at by t...
Some people won't go the extra mile, and then on their birthday, when no one makes a fuss, they feel neglected and bitter.
[S]he believed that the Buddhists were right–that if you want, you will suffer; if you love, you will grieve. (68)
You celebrate what works and you take tender care of what doesn’t, with lotion, polish, and kindness.
Lies cannot nourish or protect you. Only freedom from fear, freedom from lies, can make us beautiful, and keep us safe.
Holiness has most often been revealed to me in the exquisite pun of the first syllable, in holes- in not enough help, in brokenness, mess. High holy places, with ethereal sounds and stained glass, can...
My idea of absolute happiness is to be in bed on a rainy day, with my blankie, my cat, and my dog.
You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
My parents, and librarians along the way, taught me about the space between words; about the margins, where so many juicy moments of life and spirit and friendship could be found. In a library, you co...
We stitch together quilts of meaning to keep us warm and safe, with whatever patches of beauty and utility we have on hand.
Prayer usually means praise, or surrender, acknowledging that you have run out of bullets.
[Jesus is] saying that we could be aware of, filled with, and saved by the presence of holy beauty, rather than worship golden calves.
Our shadow is on the outside. And we can see in the dark: we can see you, we see you turn away, but one day we finally understand that you turn away not from our faces but from your own fears. From th...
This is the most profound spiritual truth I know: that even when we're most sure that love can't conquer all, it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us, in the guise of our friends, a...
I don't know where to start, one [writing student] will wail. Start with your childhood, I tell them. Plug your nose and jump in, and write down all your memories as truthfully as you can. Flannery O'...
When I asked Father Tom where we find God in this present darkness, he said that God is in creation, and to get outdoors as much as you can.
First find a path, and a little light to see by. Then push up your sleeves and start helping.
As a Christian and a feminist, the most important message I can carry and fight for is the sacredness of each human life, and reproductive rights for all women are a crucial part of that. It is a mora...
What you're looking for is already inside you. You've heard this before, but the holy thing inside you really is that which causes you to seek it. You can't buy it, lease it, rent it, date it, or appl...