Christmas seems to say that paradise lost and longed for does not have to be paradise given up on.

We ask, ‘Why the need for God?’ Maybe the better question is ‘Why the need not to need Him?’ And could it be that that question in fact evidences our need for Him?

You are not made in ‘your image’. You are, in fact, made in ‘God’s image’. Therefore, which one are you looking for when you look in the mirror?

If I’ve prayed, I never have to worry about being the first one to show up.

In the end, if we don't have God we don't have anything other than an end.

The darkness that follows a sunset is never so dark that it can change the inevitability of a sunrise.

Faith is rare because fear is rampant. For faith will demand that I step into places that fear itself fears to go.

Forgiveness allows the burdens that we carry to become the histories that we forget.

When we choose to stay down, we are in reality confusing wisdom with cowardice. When we choose to stand back up, we are using wisdom to overcome cowardice.

I can arrogantly brag that the doors I choose in life open wide and grant me unobstructed passage. But the widest doors tend to lead to the worst places.

A compass calibrated by my greed is a rather shrewd way to legitimize my agenda. However, true north on a compass such as this is a straight line to the edge of a really big cliff.

Death is just the last scene of the last act.

Because sooner or later, all kinds of love - crazy love, wild love- fade into the same thing. The love becomes old and predictable -safe.

The effort you direct at finding and developing the person you are is the key to life

What I've learned over the years is that people shouldn't be defined by a single mistake. Everyone messes up, " she said. "You have to forgive yourself and move one.

I have to keep up with the scientific literature as part of my job, but increasingly I found myself reading things that weren't really relevant to my academic work, but were relevant to gardening.

Life is an art, not a science. You make it up as you go along.

I feel I can really relate to a lot of young people.

I can't love you as you have been or will be. I can only love you as you are.

Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.

I wanted to have a normal childhood. Normal relationships.