You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Live Like a Saint

Maybe you, too, have an unreasonable fear that is leaching the color from your life. Maybe you remedy this through walking, meditation or therapy. I recommend picking a saint to help you. The “saint” doesn’t have to be a literal, official Catholic one — they can be anyone who rejected a life of maximal self-interest in favor of radical service, someone whose commitment to the rigors and contradictions of doing good in this world can show you how to live in it. My saint is Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century soldier turned Carmelite friar. He had a gift for savoring dull chores, like peeling vegetables and washing pots, which he did for most of his time on Earth.