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

“The world is suited to human enjoyment—”out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sign”—in anticipation of human pleasure, which the Lord presumably shares. This is an extremely elegant detail. The beauty of the trees is noted before the fact that they yield food. It is a rich goodness that the Lord intended

I want to find my place

amongst the people of Advent

but I can’t quite decide who I am.

I want to be pregnant with God

but it takes such a toll on the body.

I have given birth to things before

And labor is hard and untimely //

I want to welcome angels and say yes,

to anything.

but if I saw an angel I would hold him

hostage and send a ransom note of questions

“I don’t believe in proofs of God. Proofs are human things based in the logic of materiality. But it seems to me what we know as beauty must be the expression of God’s very nature. Unlike the arts we make, which are always open to interpretation, this sort of loveliness is purified of anything like thought. It is what it is—and isn’t that the name

“Eighty percent of any meeting or gathering might be stupid and beneath you, but the other twenty percent will save you: it will open up your brain and expand your life and give you connection, a place in the family of man.”

— Anne Lamott, Somehow (121)