In the book of Jeremiah, God promises, “When you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me” ( Jer. 29:13–14). But there is another line in Jeremiah for when it seems the promise is broken: “I trusted You and You duped me!”

We need to learn the skills of restraint, of holding close to the heart what needs our utmost attention. Without thoughtful hesitation, what precipitates out of our grief will not have had the time to ripen into something worthy of utterance. We are often too quick to reveal, lacking subtlety in what we expose about ourselves. We suffer from what I

There is wisdom that can be wrought only in self-denial—only when all our other props, devices, and numbing agents are taken away.