We are now in Lent, the season in the traditional year of 40 days (not counting Sundays), beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending at sunrise on Easter Sunday. Traditional liturgical language has said that as we are in this season of preparation for experiencing Christ's suffering on the cross and the darkness of his death, we are to remember that "we are only dust and to dust we will all return." It's a time to connect to that deep place within us, where God's message can speak to what our lives truly mean. And all of us have a life -- a garden --that God has entrusted to us, to care for, and to nurture, and to weed, and to use. Whether we use that garden for love and service, or for selfishness and fear, is what we're looking at and experiencing together in this season.