He got me a cup of tea with honey, toast with honey, yogurt with honey, like I was John the Baptist with the flu.

Two things put me in the spirit to give. One is that I have come to think of everyone with whom I come into contast as a patient in the emergency room. I see a lot of gaping wounds and dazed expressions. Or, as Marianne Moore put it, "The world's an orphan's home." And this feels more true than almost anything else I know. But so many of us can be soothed by writing: think of how many times you have opened a book, read one line, and said, "Yes!" And I want to give people that feeling, too, of connection, communication.

Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers.

I've seen prayers answered. But often, in my experiences, if you get what you pray for, you've really shortchanged yourself.

You are not your bank account, or your ambitiousness. You're not the cold clay lump with a big belly you leave behind when you die. You're not your collection of walking personality disorders. You are spirit, you are love.

I don't have any romantic views of parenting. Every step of the way it's really hard. It's a dangerous world, physically and psychologically.

I feel incredibly successful. I make a living as a writer and am able to help support a big family, my church, my bleeding-heart causes.