Story is the mother of us all. First we wrap our lives in language and then we act on who we say we are. We proceed from the word into the world and make a world based on our stories.

We make our lives bigger or smaller, more expansive or more limited, according to the interpretation of life that is our story.

Spiritual life is contractual.

Wonder is not a Pollyanna stance, not a denial of reality; wonder is an acknowledgement of the power of the mind to transform, to notice, to decide what experience shall mean.

Our desires teach us who we are and who we want to become. Our desires shape our stories.

Despair is our chance to wrestle with fire and come through.

History is what scholars and conquerors say happened; story is what it was like to live on the ground.