After a fabulous week exploring and experiencing part of the desert in the American West, I am back to remember and move forward through Lent.  It's appropriate:  the desert is a place of scouring and repentance, a place of enrichment and introspection.  As we spend ever more time pondering the exigencies of our lives, the fleeting puffs of materiality in which we have life and breath, yes, life looks more remarkable than ever.  Sure, it can be befuddling, but it is the only experience, at this point, we have.

    Yet given the wonder of the world, it's easy to rejoice in life without also wondering why life is, why we have it, why this existence has been given to us.  To what end do we live?
  

    Put another way, who will we really be when we leave this world:  ashes or creatures of eternity?