Grace is the light or electricity or juice or breeze that takes you from that isolated place and puts you with others who are as startled and embarrassed and eventually grateful as you are to be there.

We aren't a drop in the ocean, but are the ocean, in drops.

What a paradox: that we connect with God, with divinity, in our flesh and blood and time and space. We connect with God in our humanity. A great truth, attributed to Emily Dickinson, is that "hope inspires the good to reveal itself." This is almost all I ever need to remember. Gravity and sadness yank us down, and hope gives us a nudge to help one another get back up or to sit with the fallen on the ground, in the abyss, in solidarity.

Make me a channel of Thy peace, that where there is hatred, let me sow love, or at least not fertilize the hate with my dainty bullshit.

I have a quote taped to my office wall from an anonymous source that says, 'Love is hard. Love is ... seeing the darkness in another person and defying the impulse to jump ship.

Creating ideas that spread and connecting the disconnected are the two pillars of our new society, and both of them require the posture of the artist.

On the other hand, here's an example from By the Way Bakery, which my wife founded. It's the largest gluten-free bakery of its kind in the world. Their change? "We want to make sure no one is left out. By offering people gluten-free, dairy-free, and kosher baked goods that happen to be delicious, we let the entire community be part of special family occasions. We change hosts from exclusive to inclusive, and guests from outsiders to insiders." What

The love of Christ knows no boundaries, recognizes no labels.

I cherish my every connection. I see the other in myself and myself in others.

Many people ask me what I have learned from all of the experiences in my life, and I say unhesitatingly: People are wonderful. It is true. People really are wonderful.

I'm very relaxed. I have a family, I have a partner of 20 years, I have a wonderful life; nothing could be better.

People need to understand, we can come together as a nation; we can create a culture of life.