When you pray, you are not starting the conversation from scratch, just remembering to plug back into a conversation that's always in progress.

We were raised to believe in books, music, and nature.

These are pictures of the people in my family where we look like the most awkward and desperate folk you ever saw, poster children for the human condition.

I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me--that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.

...music is about as physical as it gets: your essential rhythm is your heartbeat; your essential sound, the breath. We're walking temples of noise, and when you add tender hearts to this mix, it somehow lets us meet in places we couldn't get to any other way.

...It really IS easier to experience spiritual connection when your life is in the process of coming apart.

You should not bring more items and hurdles to the obstacle course.