I can't say for sure if I'm better off, since I have no way of knowing what would have been. I could have traveled to exotic places and kissed exotic men in the moonlight. Or I could have ended living alone in a dumpy apartment with the flesh eating virus I contracted from a public toilet. Could haves are always a great unknown.

I believe in beauty. I believe in goodness. I believe in the power of turning: the other cheek, time, curve of the earth.

The most amazing thing is that all my sorrows, all of my darkest moments, are becoming my gifts.

In this week I see such a picture of life, hard and joyful pressed up together and sleeping in the same bed. They come knit together. The lines of pain run through the joy and remind us to go all in, because life is short. The joy edges the pain and gives us a reason to rise.

Every day is a new beginning, the building of a habit. Every action is a step in some direction. There is no pause in living.

This is the only advice I offer you. Pick the small thing, and carry it on. Let it change your life.

The road to the heart is not a long, linear path, but this turning. There is no race or competition, just me and God going deeper, carving a canyon to the soul.

God wants to take the fears that you and I are holding onto with both hands. He throws them aside, effortless, and then takes our empty hands in His and fills them with his love. He is not a hard driver. He wants to provide.