How many people have damaged their own lives by mistaking enablement for grace?

Meaningful stories have lots and lots of conflict. If we avoid conflict, our stories won't be meaningful.

Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.

Being a Christian is more like falling in love than understanding a series of ideas.

I've wondered, though, if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don't want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgment. We don't want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn't remarkable, then we don't have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims instead of grateful participants.

God doesn't give us crying, pooping children because he wants to advance our careers.

The heart responds to the conflict within a story.