Things That Matter Most: Essays on Home, Friendship, and Love

Have you forgotten how wondrous life can be? Christopher de Vinck offers a timeless collection of wisdom on family, childhood, God, love, compassion, buttered toast, snowmen, Hamlet, Bugs Bunny, bees.

For anyone who is caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, weary and perhaps a little jaded by all that seems wrong in the world, this is a book that helps us to see again.

In essays that are warm, evocative, and often amusing, Christopher De Vinck gives us back the eyes of a child, the fresh vision of delight, and a renewed reminder that we are surrounded with awe that we often take for granted. This is a book about living with a perpetual array of treasures: the voices of people we love, the taste of marzipan, the sounds of October geese. This is a book that reminds us to look, smell, see, touch, and listen to what is revealed to us each morning. Chris invites us to realize life as we live it, every minute.

Reflecting on the joys of family, writing, and education, Chris doesn't shy away from loneliness, disappointments and regrets. His is a voice that combines both the joys and sorrows of living, speaking with hope and acceptance, and celebrating the power of simplicity in our modern age.

"In his classic book The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously suggested that 'it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.' With the elegance of a poet, the wonder of child-like eyes, and the discipline of one who steadfastly pays attention to the world around and within him, Christopher de Vinck's Things That Matter Most helps us see with our hearts--to see rightly--those things that are essential to a life well-lived: A place to truly call home, friends who sustain and nurture one another, and the love of a God who knows us as children of great worth." --Jeff Crosby, author of Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts


About the Author

Christopher de Vinck, husband, father, and grandfather, earned his doctoral degree from Columbia University and devoted 40 years to his career in public education. He is the author of countless essays for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, National Catholic Reporter, Dallas Morning News, USA Today, Reader's Digest, and Good Housekeeping, and thirteen books including the bestselling The Power of the Powerless: A Brother's Lesson of Love about his severely disabled brother Oliver and the difference Oliver made in this sometimes jaded world.

De Vinck's books have won two Christopher Awards, the 2021 Illumination Book Award's Gold Medal in the category of Christian Living, and "Best Column" by the National Catholic Press Association.