But when you realize that the story of your life could be told a thousand different ways, that you could tell it over and over as a tragedy, but you choose to call it an epic, that's when you start to learn what celebration is. When what you see in front of you is so far outside of what you dreamed, but you have the belief, the boldness, the courage to call it beautiful instead of calling it wrong, that's celebration.

When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life.

If we pay attention to our tears, they'll show us something about ourselves.

I believe that suffering is part of the narrative, and that nothing really good gets built when everything's easy. I believe that loss and emptiness and confusion often give way to new fullness and wisdom.

Sometimes the happiest ending isn't the one you keep longing for, but something you absolutely cannot see from where you are

The world is alive, blinking and clicking, winking at us slyly, inviting us to get up and dance to the music that’s been playing since the beginning of time, if you bend all the way down and put your ear to the ground to listen for it.

In many cases, change is not a function of life's cruelty but instead a function of God's graciousness.