You do understand," she continued, "that unless I had an object to love -- or, more accurately, a someone to love -- if I did not have such a relationship within myself, then I would not be capable of love at all? You would have a god who could not love. Or maybe worse, you would have a god who, when he chose, could love only as a limitation of his nature.

Image and appearance tell you little. The inside is bigger than the outside when you have the eyes to see.

I'm trying to get far away from [picturing God as] Gandalf or Santa Claus.

I have moments that aren't too bad, but there's always something I'm struggling with, or feeling guilty about. I just figured I needed to try harder, but I find it difficult to sustain that motivation.

Thank goodness there are women in our lives -- that's all I can say. We get saved by the women in our lives.

So many believe that it is love that grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it.

Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.