I have always thought of myself as "weak" when it came to prayer. I love words so much that reading the Bible and thinking about it comes pretty naturally, but praying has always left me impatient. I guess I just don't usually believe that it actually makes a difference. It ...

I've always been a fan of mysteries. As a kid, I raced through Agatha Christie and Tony Hillerman and Sue Grafton. We even did those jigsaw puzzles where you could solve the mystery by the image the assembled puzzle created. Later in life, I became intrigued by mysteries that ...

I was reminded, in reading Martin Lloyd Williams' new book, Beauty and Brokenness, of the distinction between pity and compassion. Williams completes his book with a meditation upon compassion. It's a buzzword of sorts these days, a word that can make me roll my eyes, even. ...

I have been reading the Gospel of Luke in recent days, and I came across the angel Gabriel's pronouncement to Mary: "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

I tried to imagine myself in her position, and I envisioned a big grin on my face, feeling as if ...

It was one of those days that I could have missed. So easily, I could have missed the first time William put something in a bucket (to this point he's only taken things out). I could have missed Penny's applause, "Good job, William!" I could have missed him running into the ...