Our hopes, plans, and dreams often get lost in the “heat” of life. Light rays are bent in a naturally-occurring phenomenon called a mirage, and the refraction creates displaced and distorted objects.

A firm hand pressed down on my shoulder as my pencil made an upward sweeping motion creating a near-symmetric circle as its final mark in my notebook. "Doesn't look like math to me," my teacher said as I raised to meet her eyes. "It looks like doodling!" she said. Wisdom prevailed, and I didn't say what I was thinking. In my mind, the lines and shapes did, in fact, involve a little geometry. Not that it was on purpose!

With the hot Louisiana sun cooking my back, I crawled on my belly for what seemed like hours. A tiny bird perched on a low-hanging branch was my target. With my “Daisy Red Rider” B-B gun and all the skill a seven-year-old can muster, I took steady aim and squeezed the trigger. And just like that, it was over! Or was it?

As I admired my trophy on the ground, I was surprised by my dad’s voice. “Now what?” he said.

There she stood against a backdrop of drab gray. Her hair was somewhere between brown and dishwater blonde and somewhat unkempt. Her eyes were striking - a slightly muted translucent blue-gray that could go green given the right surroundings. This teenage image of innocence held a sign I would have otherwise ignored, except for the questions she held in her eyes.

I stopped in my tracks at the words smeared in gold on her black and crumpled cardboard. It said: "THERE IS NO GOD."

Coming home late one night after extensive travels, something strange happened as I leaned in to kiss my three-year-old "good night." His chubby little hands shot out from under the covers and squeezed my cheeks. His eyes searched every detail of my face…

It’s no secret! Our modern Christmas is getting in the way of the real Christmas.

On the church sign at the corner- “Church dismissed for Christmas.” What, no mass for Christ on His birthday? Nothing holy on the Holyday?

That’s as ridiculous as pulling up to the ski lodge and reading a sign- “Slopes closed due to three inches of snow.” Or, at the grocery store – “Store closed due to an abundance of milk and bread.”