Tabitha

“To make things that don’t exist yet—and don’t need to exist, because that is the very definition of art—and to send them out into the world is wildly, impractically, gorgeously hopeful.

“This is my way of saying there is no creativity without hope. Creativity is inherently hopeful, and the reverse is also true: Hope is inherently creative. Hope is

“Questions about the covenant of Abraham that complicate its meaning arise from its very beginning. For example, the sign of the covenant is circumcision. Abraham is told that every male in his household must be circumcised, including slaves born in his house and those bought with money. This clearly anticipates the inclusion in the covenant of a

“Cain does not believe that God is just. He responds in a fury by murdering his brother. It is as if he is shouting at heaven, ‘Oh, so my offering is not good enough for you? Try this one on for size!’

Abel is an offering of infinite value. Cain is sacrificing the image of God to God.

That is what murder is. It is the killing of the imago Dei. It is

“I had been visited by grace in its distressing guise of having run out of any more good ideas.”

— Anne Lamott, Somehow (52)