Each human being carries within them the entire history and future of life. Our hearts are what we imagine heaven to be, and our spirit is precisely what we think about when we use the word ‘messiah’ — we are made to care and protect those who are suffering or imprisoned, tortured or violated.

It is, I believe, among the most precious and natural of our human dreams, hopes, desires and natures. Yet this last thing is not precisely a fact, but rather… an invitation.

Challenges can darken our lives and hearts, but they are also the soil from which true senses and hearts come forth. They are, it turns out, the index finger on the hand of these invitations, and it is my direct experience that this hand is both our own and divine.