The 17th century French philosopher Blaise Pascal said that most of us spend our lives seeking diversions in a desperate attempt to avoid the hard and simple questions: who am I? What  is the purpose of my life? What does God want of me?

These hard and simple questions have hard and simple answers. "Who am I?" I am a beloved, adopted son or daughter of the God, who gave his all for me. I am because of him. "What is the purpose of my life?" He created me, predestined me, redeemed and sanctified me, so that I could be with  him forever in eternity, sharing his glory and praising his name. "What does God want of me?" He calls me to love him and others in response to his gratuitous love for me. Simple, right? But in reality we struggle with each of these answers. Because of our sinful tendencies it is hard for us to accept that God could love us and it is hard for us to love God in the way he deserves. But hard doesn't mean impossible. Each day we need to remind ourselves of our true identity, our true purpose and destiny and our true way of life. If we never lose sight of our goal--union with God--we can more readily move in that direction. As a proverb says: The journey of a mile begins with the first step.