I had a dream last night that I had lost something and could not find it back. I find dreams fascinating and usually try and discern their message for me.  John Sanford said that dreams are God’s forgotten language and that God is always trying to speak to us in our dreams.  And, there may be some truth to that.

Thinking about dreams and wondering what it was that I lost that caused so much consternation in my subconscious, I remembered one of my favorite quotes of T.E. Lawrence.  “All men (people) dream – but not equally.  Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity.  But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men (people), for they may act their dreams with open eyes and make them possible.”

Jesus was a dreamer of the day who acted out his dreams for a world of inclusion and equality and compassion and love and forgiveness and acceptance.  All are powerful things to dream about yet much, much harder to live out in the harsh light of day.

As we journey with Jesus during these holy days of his passion and death, can we take up his dream and live it with our eyes open so we can help to make it possible?  It might make us dangerous, as it did Jesus, but it also might bring some grace to our troubled world.

My feet hurt. And it’s no small wonder. I’ve been trying to increase my walking and I am up to about 4 miles a day at least 4 – 5 days a week.  So, yesterday my feet hurt to where I couldn’t think about anything else.  In the early afternoon I made an amazing discovering, though.  Just by changing my shoes I gained a blessed amount of relief.  The simple act of changing shoes completely changed my outlook for the rest of the day.

In my prayer this morning I couldn’t help but think of what other things I might need to change, small though they may be, in order to follow Jesus through his passion and death to his resurrection.  Changing my shoes is a simple act, but changing my mind; changing my opinion; changing my attitude; changing my perspective can be, oh, so much more difficult.  Yet, if we are attentive and keyed into our interior selves, we might be able to pick up the clues when our opinions and attitudes begin to pinch and cause us discomfort.  Maybe it’s time to re-examine them and see if another style fits better with more comfort.

Holding fast to something that no longer serves us well – like an old pair of shoes – benefits no one.  Jesus wasn’t trying to tell the people to remain the same – he was preaching about something new, something very different, something that would bring change – life in the Kingdom of God.  And he was arrested and killed by the authorities because they did not want to embrace such a change.  Can we?

Yesterday was Passion Sunday, the beginning of the holiest week of the Christian calendar. Following services at a local church, I went with my husband into his office because he had some work to complete before Monday morning.  I was merely going to help him place some pictures around his office and then take a walk through the monuments on the mall as he completed his work.

As we entered the federal building the security guard met us and screened all of our belongings and we walked through the detector.  Since it was Sunday, and few people were entering the building, the guard had the rare opportunity for a little chat.  He made comment on what a beautiful day it was.  “Yes,” I agreed.  “It was a little cloudy as we made our way to church this morning, but it’s clearing up now.”

“And how was the service?” he asked politely in his lovely African accent.  “Crowded!” I responded noncommittally.  “And the message?” he asked, “How was the message?”

Pausing for a moment, trying to find the correct words, I said “A little weak.”  I had wanted to hear a homily that was deep and thoughtful, one that would speak personally to me and touch my spiritual hunger; something to sustain me for the week to come as I prepared for this holiest of weeks, through the passion of our Lord, to the glory of Easter.

“Ah,” he said, the fullness of his obsidian face smiling broadly, revealing the kindness of his spirit within, “So the message was for someone else.”

His remark hit me like a splash of cold water!  Of course!  Not everything is about me!  What a graced moment, and one that I will carry with me through this week of our Lord’s passion and death.  The message was for someone else.  That is a little piece of the passion all by itself – not everything is about me.  In fact, most things in life are not about us at all!  We must learn to broaden our horizons and realize that there are others on this journey with us.

And so begins Holy Week with a vivid reminder of some of the simple passions we all must live.  A graced moment for a graced week.

Do you read signs?

Sometimes it’s a difficult task to read directional signs when we are driving by at 35, or 65 miles per hour, in heavy traffic and our minds are filled with so many other important things.  We have to be able to read that sign in a split second, make a decision, and act – all within a moment, or traffic will tell us we have missed the opportunity.  When that happens and we’ve missed the turn, our little “Gypsy” in our phone (or, GPS navigator, if you will) will mechanically tell us “Make the next available U turn.”

But what if we have missed the signs in life?  What if we have missed the gentle and caring touch of someone who cares?  Or, the quick but sincere smile of a stranger meant to give us a boost?  Or, the soft words spoken by a co-worker meant to give us encouragement?  If we have missed these signs, there are no U turns available.  We can only resolve to be more attentive the next time.

So, let’s slow down a bit and make sure we are attentive to the signs around us.  Perhaps, along with noticing the signs intended for us, we should also resolve to offer some of those signs of God’s presence to others.  It doesn’t take much . . . a quiet moment to listen to someone else; a compliment on a job well done; a caring question about an elderly parent; or a little interest in someone’s joy or sorrow.

U turns are difficult to make.  So let’s read the signs attentively, make a decision and take action.  Each will be a moment of grace.

Saint Katharine Drexel is known to have said: “You have no time to occupy your thoughts with complacency or consideration of what others will think. Your business is simply ‘What will my Father in heaven think?'”

St. Katharine is right on one count, but I think it can be argued that there is someone else whose opinion we have to concern ourselves with.  We must ask ourselves in our reflection:  “What do I think?”

God’s thoughts and desires for us are expressed in our daily experiences and the thoughts and moments of reflection we have — so, what do you think?

If we have prayed and reflected and consciously thought deeply about something, it is safe to say God has probably weighed in on the matter.  Yes, we must concern ourselves with what our Father in heaven thinks, but we also must be attentive to what we think.  When what God thinks and what we think become consonant, then we can be sure that St. Katharine is right and we need not occupy our time with what others will think.

Think about it.  Let God speak to you and listen for the grace.

I was recently reading about bridges and they are fascinating structures.  More than just a means of getting from one place to another, they have had many functions throughout time.  Bridges were places where lovers met, where one could go for reflection or to view the sights from an alternate view.  They were also used as public meeting places for gossip or for business.  The village bridge as a meeting place was common because it was easily seen, recognized and usually could not be missed.

What bridges are we in need of in our lives today?  Do we need a place of pause so we might take a moment in reflection?  Or, perhaps we need to see life from an alternate view. Perhaps from the bridge things will not look so harried or chaotic and the pieces of our lives will neatly fit together like the jagged pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, or look like a Monet painting – so much more beautiful viewed from a distance.  Do we need to meet someone?  Perhaps the bridge we need is a place where we can meet our lover and open our hearts to another so that we might come to love another more than ourselves.

Or, perhaps the bridge we need is merely the means to travel from one side of the trail to the other . . . in our quest for growth and new spiritual awareness this Lent.

Look for bridges today.  They are necessary and they provide moments of grace.  Take the bridge.  Reflect.  See.  Meet.  Love.  Be born anew.

A friend recently shared that she had stood up for herself, said “No” to someone and then felt guilty.  How well I know that feeling!  Especially as women, we have been nurtured almost from birth to be sensitive to the needs and wants of others, with little regard for our own.  Perhaps it’s time for us – all of us – women and men, to spend a little more time with ourselves so that we might be attentive to our inner desires and needs.  Then, let us pray for the courage to stand up for ourselves and voice what it is we need without feeling guilty.

Please don’t misunderstand.  This is not to negate the needs and wants of others, or our responsibility to respond to them.  It is a call for us to give ourselves permission to have time alone so we can discern our own needs and wants, and then have the courage to articulate them without feeling guilt.  The moments we spend discovering our true selves will be graced moments.

As I walked the town yesterday evening and this morning I was struck by the huge banner hanging in front of Printing and Engraving that proclaims:  Celebrating the gift of trees.

Yes, that’s what this town is doing – celebrating the gift of cherry trees.  It’s been 100 years since the gift was received and this season has seen an unusually early bloom and a very short bloom because of the heat.  Still it is exquisitely beautiful and not hard at all to celebrate.  I’ve been trying to capture the beauty with my camera so that it will be a constant reminder of a gift given once that keeps on giving – for 100 years.

What other things in our lives must we celebrate?  Certainly there are other gifts as well that merit our celebrating.  We can start with the gift of trees and go from there.  Each one is a grace to be remembered and honored with grateful celebration.

St. Teresa of Avila, one of my favorite saints, once wrote: “O my Lord, what a true friend you are, and how powerful. O that a voice might go forth over the earth, proclaiming how faithful you are to your friends!”

Today, let’s take some extra time to tell our true friend how faithful we desire to be.  The quiet moments spent with true friends can be exquisite graced moments.

Recently I had two very pleasant surprises.  I received in the mail two pieces of correspondence that caused great memories to return to me.  One letter was from a mentor of mine in the 80’s who wanted to recommend some new book titles to me.  We don’t keep in very good contact these days, so this was a very nice surprise.  The other letter was from a cousin with whom I was quite close throughout our high school years.  Again, we don’t keep in good contact these days, but both letters gave me a wonderful store of memories and I couldn’t help but smile as I recalled the many conversations we had and the things we did and shared together.  Each letter was a graced gift!

Who has influenced your life?  Who has been important in shaping the individual you are today?  Someone once said that we are all amalgamations of every person we have ever met.  Obviously, some folks have had more influence on us than others.  Perhaps we need to take the opportunity to let them know that.  Maybe this Lent can be a time where we take a few minutes to write to someone who means something important to us and let them know how they have affected our lives.

We may not know where they are, or if they are alive or dead, but we can write that letter anyway.  Each person we encounter graces us.  It’s up to us to be aware and recognize that fact.  Let your memories guide your writing.  It will be filled with grace.

And, if you can mail that letter, I guarantee, it will fill the other person’s life with grace.