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

The solution is always spiritual, and it almost never has anything to do with the problem ... laughter is carbonated holiness.

I knew that the world was a harsh place, and my family was a mess, and even though I danced as fast as I could, I did not feel welcome, did not feel the great Shalom. THIS WORLD WAS NEVER A GOOD MATCH FOR ME. But my belief was that there was a loving magical energy in the world - seen in Nature's beauty and awesomeness, my best girl and women friends, art, music.

Once an old woman at my church said the secret is that God loves us exactly the way we are and that he loves us too much to let us stay like this, and I'm just trying to trust that.

I got a lot of things that society had promised would make me whole and fulfilled - all the things that the culture tells you from preschool on will quiet the throbbing anxiety inside you - stature, the respect of colleagues, maybe even a kind of low-grade fame.

Writing takes a combination of sophistication and innocence; it takes conscience, our belief that something is beautiful because it is right.

I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good at it.