No one could ever love me. I was an accident, an inconvenience. I could never be good enough. My mother did not plan to have me. She was not married. I was conceived when she was fifteen years old. Only four months before I was born, she and my dad got married. My parents always seemed to be fighting and I thought that it was my fault. I felt...

One morning, I was called into my supervisor's office. Like many in the '90s, I was told my services were no longer required. They call it corporate restructuring. My 25-year career at the local hospital ended in a split second. I was devastated, stunned, shocked. This must be some kind of mistake, I thought. I was good at my job. I fell into...

At our door awaits the emotional splendor of the December rush. As we enter the gateway of decked halls and sleighed door posts, we are hit with snow-slushed proportions the weight of making this holiday the best ever. Fear of someone’s ultimate disappointment forces our hand in trading our peace of mind and financial well-being for that new...

My father lay dying. In a sweat-soaked bed in the emergency room of a Brooklyn, New York, hospital, he lay gasping for air desperately trying not to panic as his heart beat erratically. As I watched my father's life seemingly ebb away due to chronic heart stress, strands of a familiar hymn floated through my clinched teeth. Tasting the salty tears...

I have never been a big fan of the "paste a smile on and pretend it's okay" club. In my case it was months after my son, Noah's, death that I began to feel angry. I had to return to work and the crushing unfairness of it all began to sink in. I used to think that people of true faith accepted everything quietly and calmly, but now I'm not so sure. I...

Samuel looked woefully at his departing relatives. Then he began wailing loudly. He knew they were leaving him with these strange people. Samuel's parents had been killed by a bomb that had hit their house in Beirut, and his relatives couldn't afford to take care of him. So Samuel joined the 40 other Arab boys who lived at this boys home in Lebanon...

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of...