Written August 2007 after a field trip hosted by the University of Southern California to introduce new graduate students to Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES, CA — As a British expatriate — raised in a series of small, countrified villages — I am unaccustomed to sights that truly astound and move me into silence. In the Hamlets [...]

Today is a quiet day. It is a day for reading and listening to the wind. It is a day for walking in the woods, among the rustling of leaves and the sweet chirping of birds. It is a day for prayer, and thankfulness.

A year ago, I spent a quiet day [...]

I was watching Thumbelina with my two-year-old niece this evening, and the plot started to annoy me. Everything that happens to Thumbelina is caused by outside forces. Her story moves along without her input or action at all. She is completely passive. A prince stumbles into her home and falls in love with her. Then [...]

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (James 1:19)

This past weekend was a very social one, with lots of people and lots of talking. I tried my best to relax and be myself, knowing that my loved ones will love me [...]

Today is Friday, and I am very glad for the sunshine and the weekend. But I am also afraid.

I am afraid because the weekend brings a set of new challenges. I usually use this time to rebel against the week, to do “whatever I feel like” and loosen all bonds and commitments after a week [...]

I went to bed last night with good intentions. I was going to wake up bright and early and immediately get started on a story that has been sitting on my “to-write list” for months. I drifted off to sleep imagining the opening scene, sifting through the quotes I could use and typing out yet-to-be-discovered [...]

In this season of Lent, how do you achieve “soul over matter” and overcome the barriers that stand in the way of spiritual growth? Our best effort is the most we can hope to achieve — as well as the most that is being asked of us.

“Ruby” is a teenager in the foster care system who wants to escape the problems of her environment and live her own life. She’ll have to give up to win.

The limitless faith of childhood is exchanged for perpetual fear in adulthood, and, ironically, results in the creation of an imaginary monster.

Spring is coming and my dad is dying. The daffodils are blooming along the sides of the road and the trees are filled with white blossom. He sleeps most of the time now. The wind smells like dew on freshly sprung green grass. His hearing has started to fail. Next weekend [...]