“I blinked deliberately, expecting my eyelids to act like lumberjacks. But the trees would not fall.”

“I quite deliberately dressed wild animals in tame costumes of my imagination.”

“But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love--but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation, and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up.”

“To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures who people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one whose guidance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you. It is like losing--I'm sorry, I would rather not go on.”

“I ask you, is it the fig tree's fault that it's not the season for figs? What kind of thing is that to do to an innocent tree, wither it instantly?”

“The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving.”

“I would nearly go into convulsions of dismay at my stupidity.”