Death is a regular part of my job, which makes small talk weird for me at parties.

Sometimes we need someone to witness the pain in holy stillness.

Life doesn't have to be ever-upward in order to be well-lived.

Advent encourages us to be present in each moment of waiting.

Love is reaching through the generations with expectations that I live through challenging times.

I want to be shaped in a way that lets me serve the eternal.

Maybe hope is fleeting. It leaves and returns again; there’s beauty in its impermanence.

Sometimes, there is no reprieve from the pain of this world. Sometimes, it is too big and too obvious to ignore.

The most life-giving coping strategy—for me—is to attune to a voice calmer and wiser than mine, and allow that seeking to be its own expression of faith.

I hope that this Great Silence, which has come alongside the suffering, holds the beginnings of our healing.

We are never numbers to be tallied for turnout. We are more than a sum. Together, we are the hope and courage.

What I do know for sure is that hope matters. One of the best things we can do is to hold hope for someone when that person cannot hold it for themselves.

As a hospital chaplain, I often listen to painful stories. We call it compassionate presence, but I may be crying inside. When words fail, I pray and sing.

Advent is about expectation—radical expectations that undo the status quo—and anticipation: a skillful search for the places where liberation rises from the ashes.

I wanted so much to believe that God was watching over this boy, that God was tender and protective and fiercely on the side of life and that this boy would not slip away.

Someone whispered to me, “Can you pray?” I had no earthly clue what to say. It was a profound gut-level panic. It was the moment I learned to speak the truth as best I understand it, and to hold space for it to bloom.

"The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature, it must seek God, who is love." —Mechthild of Magdeburg, 13th century Germany For twelve years, Daisy has been the...