We are what we love.

Doing a blog and keeping up with a thirty day at home retreat isn't easy. Especially when you aren't home. Anyway, I'm back and will try to stay on track.

Still following John of the Cross, I have had the chance to reevaluate lots of things in my life. The above statement regarding what we we love is a sure fire way to get the mind rolling. It requires that we look at all the things we hold dear and then determine if we want to be remember or even recognized by them. I know that I have renewed my evening TV habits to exclude lots of shows that I thought I couldn't live without because a careful scrutiny of their plots and scripts didn't truly reflect who I am or how I want to be perceived. The lack of: toleration for others; references to equality; love; respect for others; and a cacophony of other things demonstrated to me that they aren't who I am. In fact, on occasion I have found that I was becoming like the characters rather than just seeing them as they were, fictitious.

My love for others is too strong to be put into a simple blog, but I have found that I really do have respect and love, even for those who have hurt me badly. I have learned from them and have put these lessons into good use. Too often pain accompanies us on our journey through life and that is not what God wanted for us. He has given us the chance to demonstrate our willingness to follow His example and find the good in even the worst of situations. If He can find good in the death of His Son, then we certainly have no excuse. Here is the conundrum. How can pain offer us hope? I think that we center ourselves on the actual pain rather than the cause or result. Pain is transitory, but living through it and getting past it is a permanent part of our own existence. People say we learn from pain and I have found that to be true. The difference is that we not only learn what causes it, but we learn about ourselves and how we deal with things that upset our daily equilibrium. Love isn't a cure all but if we approach all things from the perspective of God's gift, then we can learn to love them and we become a little more like the person God created.