Gratitude goes beyond the 'mine' and 'thine' and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.

As long as we have our stories there is hope.

Prayer is the center of the Christian life. It is the only necessary thing. It is living with God, here and now.

In solitude we become aware that we were together before we came together and that life is not a creation of our will but rather an obedient response to the reality of our being united.

Our glory is hidden in our pain, if we allow God to bring the gift of himself in our experience of it.

God, help me to see others not as enemies or as ungodly but rather as thirsty people. And give me the courage and compassion to offer your Living Water, which alone quenches deep thirst.

The journey from teaching about love to allowing myself to be loved proved much longer than I realised.