Patheos

BuddhistCatholicContemplativeEvangelicalGeneral ChristianHinduJewishLatter-day SaintMuslimNew VisionsProgressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Patheos

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

Good Letters

friendship

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

June 2018

June 13, 2018

On Cultivating Friendship

On a festive Sunday evening in what should have been spring (nearly sixty degrees at...

March 2018

March 20, 2018

Occasions of Grace

My old friend Gina, one of the loveliest ladies I know, lived for years with...

January 2018

January 23, 2018

The Love Song of Pepper Smith

The day of Pepper Smith’s funeral, it was a stiff fifteen degrees—ironic weather for a...

August 2017

August 09, 2017

Possessed

It refused to rain during the hot, middling July weeks the summer I turned fifteen....

January 2017

January 12, 2017

Making Contact: A Christian-Atheist Friendship, Part 2

An introduction: Decades ago, in the faraway land of Orange County, California, two young women...

January 11, 2017

Making Contact: A Christian-Atheist Friendship, Part 1

An introduction from Tania Runyan: Decades ago, in the faraway land of Orange County, California,...

January 10, 2017

Meeting Islam in Interfaith Friendships

In 1993 my husband George Dardess began visiting our local Islamic Center: first to learn...

January 03, 2017

Transcendence: A Tribute to William Christenberry (1936-2016)

“The art of losing isn’t hard to master,” Elizabeth Bishop said, with irony. Still, it’s...

September 2016

September 15, 2016

Unfriending, Impractical Jokes, and Other Foibles

If I were to graph my mental health over the past five years, the line...

April 2016

April 18, 2016

Conference Envy: A Survival Guide

Yesterday I was running around the park in a T-shirt with a birthday party full...

March 2016

March 16, 2016

What Happened to Fun?

I was so good, and for such a long time, two weeks at least of...

January 2016

January 06, 2016

Autistic Lives Matter

When I first met Daniel Bowman Jr. at the Festival of Faith and Writing, we...

November 2015

November 25, 2015

Talk to Me in Letters

Dearest Cal: Please never stop writing me letters—they always manage to make me feel like...

November 13, 2015

Poetry Friday: “Mixed Company” by Brett Foster

Each Friday at Good Letters we feature a poem from the pages of Image, selected and...

October 2015

October 12, 2015

Lucia Berlin: A Master of Catholic Fiction, Part 1

By Jenny Shank In September, Lucia Berlin’s posthumous collection of selected short stories A Manual for...

October 07, 2015

Life-Saving Moments of Art

 In August, the musical duo Alright Alright, composed of husband and wife Seth and China...

September 2015

September 17, 2015

I Found Him at Subway

By John Bryant I found him at Subway, an old man in a brown jacket,...

September 11, 2015

Seeking Refuge

By Shannon Huffman Polson I’d just put my two young sons to bed when I...

May 2015

May 29, 2015

Triple Scoop

By Jessica Mesman Griffith My best friend died suddenly almost two years ago. She’d lived...

April 2015

April 15, 2015

Writing This Post Was on My Bucket List

I’ve never left North America, seen the Statue of Liberty, or dipped a toe in...

March 2015

March 17, 2015

Complimentary Angles

Cristin slammed the kitchen door behind her when she came home from work a few...

March 13, 2015

Receiving “What Is”

With gratitude and apologies to Peter Cole I would like to share this poem with...

March 05, 2015

Remembering Phil Levine

By Paul Mariani Note: We asked the author, one of Image’s editorial advisors, to write...

February 2015

February 23, 2015

The Tenth Leper

Guest post by Kelly Foster If you grow up in the South, you learn to...

November 2014

November 04, 2014

Lorenzo the Magnificent

He liked to be called El Santo (Spanish for “the Saint”). In almost anyone else...

October 2014

October 14, 2014

The Iron Cross: An Observation from the Way of Saint James, Part 2

Continued from yesterday.  The Way of Saint James—El Camino de Santiago—is a pilgrimage that began...

October 13, 2014

The Iron Cross: An Observation from the Way of Saint James, Part 1

I didn’t know Julia well. The first time I saw her, she was sitting at...

September 2014

September 05, 2014

An American Girl’s Tale

Dave Ramsey, the millionaire evangelical Christian money coach who’s famous for telling his clients they...

August 2014

August 22, 2014

How to Talk to the Dying

Since being diagnosed nearly seven years ago with a lethal cancer, I have backed my...

May 2014

May 22, 2014

Light One Candle

Every week after Mass I light a candle. I love the smell of hot wax...

Related posts from Good Letters

Catholic

Waiting for Nothing to Happen

Good Letters

Catholic

Morning in a Forgotten Neighborhood

Good Letters

Catholic

Humans Love Heroes

Good Letters

Catholic

The Lost Goodbye

Good Letters

Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Copyright 2008-2026, Patheos. All rights reserved.

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube