Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of collaborating with Patrick Maguire, founder and owner of Java Beach Café in San Francisco, on the creation of his soon-to-be-published book All Things Beautiful. 

Pat is a native San Franciscan. He was raised in an Irish-Catholic family in the lower Sunset District near Ocean Beach and Judah Street. While this may sound quite ordinary, Pat’s life story has been anything but ordinary. In the rollercoaster of life, he has experienced the extremes of numerous peaks and valleys. In his gripping account of his life, Pat opens his heart and shares how these experiences have shaped him, his outlook on life, and his personal spirituality.

While Pat never mentions Thomas Merton by name, one of the most powerful take-aways from his book can be summarized by the quote above. It is a lesson most of us can improve upon in our own lives.