I am a strong proponent of honest prayer. I really have no time for pretending I am more holy, more pious, more cleaned up than I actually am. Too much pretending exhausts me. And I believe that prayer is one of the primary places in our lives with God where we are deeply tempted to […]

"When I reach the world to come, God will not ask me why I wasn't more like Moses. He will ask me why I wasn't more like Zusya." (early Hasidic leader, Rabbi Zusya)

I am thoughtful this week about the idea that most of human unhappiness stems from within. We are unhappy, many of us, with ourselves. I often wonder what kind of energy might be freed up in the human soul if we simply were done disliking ourselves, berating ourselves, wishing we were someone else. This is […]

"A tree brings glory to God by being a tree." (Thomas Merton)

"I heard an old man speak once, someone who had been sober for fifty years, a very prominent doctor. He said that he’d finally figured out a few years ago that his profound sense of control, in the world and over his life, is another addiction and a total illusion. He said that when he […]

  The more I grow in my faith, the less I know for sure. I know that seems wrong; it seems like the more we grow, the more we should know. That could even be a Christian slogan! But I am finding the opposite to be true … it’s not that I doubt more. It’s […]