The Creator's greatest gift to us is our own self.

Lately, I've been meditating on the realization that WHO WE ARE as a person - that is, our character - is much more important than the pleasures we experience, the material goods we are able to buy (or produce) or even the insights we gain. The Creator's greatest gift to us is our very self. As the author of the medieval spiritual classic "The Cloud of Unknowing" says, "Whenever you experience sweetness and consolation" in the act of loving, "it is because God breaks open the fruit and gives you a part of your own present." How amazing! A portion of our experience of the Divine is knowing the beautiful aspects of our own core personality of which God gives us a tantalizing taste! When the fires of challenge come into our lives, many of the things we had grasped as possessions begin to burn up in importance, leaving us to flower in all of our inner goodness and beauty. For the expression of that sacredness - together with the process of allowing our true self to serve as a mirror for the sacredness of others - is the point of our being alive.

Photo: Vaseflower (Sugarbowl) springing up from the ashes of the Galena Burn; Lory State Park, CO; May 6, 2013