They are fruit and transport: ripening melons, prairie schooners journeying under full sail.

But in order to have an adult faith, most of us have to outgrow and unlearn much of what we were taught about religion.

The ordinary activities I find most compatible with contemplation are walking, baking bread, and doing laundry.

You can only see one thing clearly, and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that, and cling to it through thick and thin.

A short-lived fascination with another person may be exciting-I think we've all seen people aglow, in a state of being "in love with love"-but such an attraction is not sustainable over the long run. Paradoxically, human love is sanctified not in the height of attraction and enthusiasm, but in the everyday struggles of living with another person. It is not in romance but in routine that the possibilities for transformation are made manifest. And that requires commitment.

Traversing a slow page, to come upon a lode of the pure shining metal is to exult inwardly for greedy hours.

Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin.