"Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen - that stillness becomes a radiance."
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
"I firmly believe that in every situation, no matter how difficult, God extends grace greater than the hardship, and strength and peace of mind that can lead us to a place higher than where we were before."
"I learned without her saying a word that there are truly many ways to pray, and lighting a candle is one of them."
"I go fishing in my mind. I put out bait, the bait of my own longing, my desire, and my hunger for connection, for a tug of something alive at the end of a line. Something that I may have to struggle with to pull in, but that will be wild and important to me, whether I keep it or let it go."
"Writing is an animal that lives in the soul. It must not be whipped into doing tricks. It is not a circus animal. It can be fierce, but it is not malevolent. It can be playful, but it is not without wisdom. Above all, it is wild. A wild animal has to sleep sometimes. This is a time of deep sleep for my writing."
"She begins, “What is the question we spend our entire lives asking?” and answers, “Our question is this: Are we loved? I don’t mean by one another.” She closes her sermon to the snakes with these words: “I am like you, curious and small. Like you, I pause alertly and open my senses to try to read the air, the clouds, the sun’s slant, the little movements of the animals, all in the hope I will learn the secret of whether I am loved."