It strikes me as somewhat odd that the people who use God's name most frequently, both in life and in literature, usually don't believe in him.

In my dreams, I never have an age.

I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.

If we accept that we have at least an iota of free will, we cannot throw it back the moment things go wrong. Like a human parent, God will help us when we ask for help, but in a way that will make us more mature, more real, not in a way that will diminish us.

To pray is to listen, to move through my own chattering to God, to that place where I can be silent and listen to what God may have to say.

When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.