I do know the sorrow of being ordinary, and that much of our life is spent doing the crazy mental arithmetic of how, at any given moment, we might improve, or at least disguise or present our defects...
My belief is that when you're telling the truth, you're close to God. If you say to God, I am exhausted and depressed beyond words, and I don't like You at all right now, and I recoil from most people...
A sober friend from Texas said once that the three things I cannot change are the past, the truth, and you. I hate this insight so much.
Joy is the best makeup.
If you don't believe in God, it may help to remember this great line of Geneen Roth's: that awareness is learning to keep yourself company. And then learn to be more compassionate company, as if you w...
If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the e...
I stared at the little white agates in my hand, delicate as moon drops. The mystery of God's love as I understand it is that God loves the man who was being mean to his dog just as much as he loves ba...
Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while
I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing? Why are you here? Let's think of reverence as awe, as presence in and openness to the world. Th...
But baseball, if we love it, gives us back our place in the crowd. It restores us.
I am not writing to try and convert people to fundamental Christianity. I am just trying to share my experience, strength and hope, that someone who is as messed up and neurotic and scarred and scared...
Your experiences will be yours alone. But truth and best friendship will rarely if ever disappoint you.
In order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent.
These two things are almost all I want, but unfortunately, neither one is my strong suit. I am very strong on blame, and wish this were one of God's values, but trust, surrender? Letting go, forgivene...
Perfectionism means that you try not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived.
Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
If you’re not enough before the gold medal, you won’t be enough with it.
Believing in George Bush was so ludicrous that believing in God almost seems rational.
The earth is rocky and full of roots; it's clay, and it seems doomed and polluted, but you dig little holes for the ugly shriveled bulbs, throw in a handful of poppy seeds, and cover it all over, and...
Bananas are great, as I believe them to be the only known cure for existential dread. Also, Mother Teresa said that in India, a woman dying in the street will share her banana with anyone who needs it...