Christian spirituality was not a children's story. It wasn't cute or neat. It was mystical and odd and clean, and it was reaching into dirty. There was wonder in it and enchantment.

I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me

I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

Self-discipline will never make us feel righteous or clean; accepting God's love will.

Relationships unlock certain parts of who we are supposed to be.

And so I have come to understand that strength, inner strength, comes from receiving love as much as it comes from giving it.

If we hear, in our inner ear, a voice saying we are failures, we are losers, we will never amount to anything, this is the voice of Satan trying to convince the bride that the groom does not love her. This is not the voice of God. God woos us with kindness. He changes out of character with the passion of his love.