True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person. Henri Nouwen has described it as receiving the stranger on his own terms, and asserts that it can be offered only by those who 'have found the center of their lives in their own hearts'.

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.

When you are unhappy, is there anything more maddening than to be told that you should be contented with your lot?

In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular.

The Christian religion asks us to put our trust not in ideas, and certainly not in ideologies, but in a God Who was vulnerable enough to become human and die, and Who desires to be present to us in our ordinary circumstances.

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.

Over and over again mediocrity is promoted because real worth isn't to be found.