Spring seems far off, impossible, but it is coming. Already there is dusk instead of darkness at five in the afternoon; already hope is stirring at the edges of the day.

Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine.

Laundry, liturgy and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether we perceive them as drudgery or essential, life-supporting work, do not define who we are as women or as human beings.

We can't give our children the future, strive though we may to make it secure. But we can give them the present.

One may have been a fool, but there's no foolishness like being bitter.

There seems to be so much more winter than we need this year.

If we are lucky, we can give in and rest without feeling guilty. We can stop doing and concentrate on being.