Each guy stamped the passport of my heart. “You’re worthy.” Stamp. “You’re enough.” “You have not failed completely.” Stamp, stamp.

I told him I had once lost everything I had, too, and that I think that can be God’s way of building walls around us to force us to look up at Him.

And so I just kept writing to myself.

Unfortunately, he still hadn’t asked for my number, or a date, or my hand in marriage, and my drink was getting low.

I didn’t answer. We were not buddies. We could not chat about the proximity of our offices, or football, or forgiveness.

The voice sang on, “I am ready, I am ready, I am fine. I am fine, I am fine, I am fine.” I played it again. I was not fine.

I remembered learning from my favorite professor at Belmont to “surround yourself with people who are better than you, ” and I was now living that mantra.

I used to cover my windows in heavy curtains, never drawn. Now I danced in the sunlight on my hardwood floors.

That’s how it felt – that the loss of him had a life of its own. I lived with it as I could have lived with him. Some nights it was quiet and sometimes it pounded on my door.

But I tended not to date men who ever showed up for me.

I threw his framed picture off my balcony just to hear my heart break.

Work while you have strength.

Break the rushy - world of you by Prayer and thanksgiving.

Respect is free. Keep some for you and give some to others.

If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.

Anyway that other thing we almost did in Paris-that's probably off the table for a while.Unless you want that whole baby-I'm-on-fire-when-we kiss thing to become freakishly literal

There was an enormous amount of pressure when my first album took off, and I struggled with the speed of everything and the exhaustion from the constant touring.

Hidden behind your fears and your failures is the success you seek.

If you can find meaning in the type of running you need todo to stay on this team, chances are you can find meaning in another absurd pastime: Life.

As far as the writing goes, I started telling stories as soon as I could talk, and started writing them down as soon as I could string words together.

I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve.