A single mother who has a child with special needs works two jobs and sacrifices much of her own pleasures in order to be available for her son. Being the best mother possible is important to her and brings her joy. We are willing to make great and often heroic sacrifices for those people and things that matter most to us. Unless there is something of obvious importance to us in our immediate path, we can easily approach life in a more haphazard and chaotic way. We jump from one thing to another, responding to whatever it is that is competing for our attention at that moment. When everything is important, nothing is important.

Grace and sin, belief and unbelief, good and evil all exist together. While we wrestle with these two dimensions of reality inwardly, they are also witnessed in the actions and words of others. Many, all too often, beat themselves up because of their sin. We are also all to quick to pass judgement on others whom we perceive to be in error and walking down a wrong path. God does not make rash judgements, nor should we. Patience is the order of the day as is an understanding that God is ultimately the call of the shots.

Using the best seeds doesn’t always guarantee the best plants. An older Italian gentleman straight from Italy gave me these amazing tomato seeds that he claimed produced the best tomatoes ever grown. Without doubt, the fruit he shared with me was a testament to that fact. These tomatoes were amazing! I couldn’t wait until the next growing season to plant these seeds and harvest my own tomatoes. The whole experiment ended up a failure. I did everything the gentleman said, but my fruit didn’t even come close. What happened? At first I was perplexed, then some years later the light dawned. The problem wasn’t the seeds, it was the soil!

We are all familiar with the refrain, "You have put on Christ. In him you have been baptized. Alleluia, alleluia!" In Baptism, we "put on" Christ. In putting on Christ, we put on all that Christ is and represents: hope, faith, and love. We are no longer bound to the sins and failures of the flesh, that part of us that resists God and relies exclusively on human means. It also means that we are not in debt to our past, complete with its sins, failures, regrets, fears, and unfulfilled dreams. There is always hope. In putting on Christ, we put on God's vision for the world, for all of His children and for us. We have been given a road map to guide our paths and a blueprint to follow for our life's journey.

When we were baptized, we were baptized into Christ's death. Take a moment to ponder these profound words. We were baptized into death. In every sense of the word, we are asked to die. This is not just about our final death but about daily deaths due to inconvenience, discomfort, pain, loss, or others' needs. This is an incredible epiphany given the way we very often approach our lives. We do everything to avoid death, let alone encounter it! Many avoid pain, discomfort, inconvenience, uneasiness, change, interference, and suffering of any kind. We put a lot of energy into finding the easiest and least inconvenient way through many things. Even holding the door open for a stranger or saying hello to someone in the store can be major undertakings.

There are many things of which we can be afraid: being rebuked, rejection, anger, being challenged, having to defend ourselves, standing alone, insecurity, failure, and even death. For some, identifying and overcoming their fears is a daunting task. Regardless of how much they may want to break the cycle of fear, they find that they remain close friends with old and dysfunctional behavioral habits and norms. Maybe what they really fear is change. There are many who gravitate to the familiar and comfortable, and find safety and security in doing so, even if they remain mired in mediocrity. Human beings have to learn that there is life beyond the "what has always been" and that happiness and depth are possible when old structures and systems have to be left behind.

It is no wonder that followers of Christ are called the Body of Christ. After all, sharing in the same spiritual food and sacred meal, they become what they eat and reveal the Divine Image. There is so much power for healing in the community of believers. Through the Eucharist, Christ becomes as present in those who have partaken of his Body and Blood as he has the elements themselves. The very presence of God touches the depths of the human soul and visits a part of us that no human being can ever hope to explore. We are God's. The sacred Eucharistic meal is a celebration of intimacy, the reunion of two loves in constant search of and longing for the other.

A well-choreographed dance can be truly inspirational. Each movement and step are interconnected, each contributing a piece of the unfolding artistic story. The beholder is caught up in the rhythms, music, and gestures, realizing that none are dispensable and all are necessary. The same is true of the Divine Dance of the Trinity. Each Person plays a part, using unique gestures and movements that are connected to the other Divine Partners. They tell a story of love. Every movement and step is born of love and flows on into eternity. The Divine Dance never ends.

Ultimately, they remind us of some truths we conveniently forget: we are created by a loving God, we have imperfections, we sin, we need to be forgiven, we have a mission and a purpose, it's not just about us, and we hunger for the joy of salvation. These are human truths that are not dependent upon whether we like them. Ignoring them places us on the paths of comfort and satisfaction as we blindly pursue the busyness and superficiality of our empty lives. Instead of pursuing supernatural and lasting pleasure, we choose things that are easier and quicker to obtain: sex, drugs, travel, houses, cars, fame, popularity, self-achievement and satisfaction, physical enjoyment, and the like.

We hope for many things: passing an exam, finding our true love, securing sustainable work, or surviving an illness. We often seek to have God be a part of what we hope for and desire, almost trying to convince Him that our agenda is what is ultimately important. While our particular hopes may appear to be what needs to be achieved in order for us to be happy, they really are not. Our lesser, more personal hopes can distract us from true hope.

When earthly lives end, especially when the person is younger, we tend to focus upon and consider what was lost. We think of lost opportunities — things they won't be able to see, babies they won't be able to cradle, and adventures that now must go undiscovered. Our minds create this chasm between earth and heaven that sees the losses of this life as permanent ones, never possible to achieve again. This perception causes many folks to remain stuck in their grief as they ponder all of the missed opportunities and regrets.

With whom do we converse and listen to the most? Believe it or not, the answer is ourselves. We are constantly having conversations with ourselves, and sometimes we even get caught! Our inner conversations reveal the truth about ourselves. We really cannot hide from ourselves, although we often pretend we can. By conversing with ourselves, we find solutions to our challenges, problem solve, work through our relationships, formulate opinions, run through dress rehearsals of possible conversations, and wrestle with and determine our system of priorities and values. What other voices affect the conversations we have with ourselves?