Join Christine and Dennis this week as they dive into the Spiritual Exercises and talk about how to grow in our understanding and experience of God's love. What can we learn from the Gospel of Matthew's teaching on the birds of the air and the wildflowers? How can we deepen our dependance on God in all things?    First Principle and Foundation of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises: The goal of our life is to live with God forever.  God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit. All things in this world are gifts from God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.  As a result, we approach and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us to develop as loving persons.  But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth towards our goal. In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation.  We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.  For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life in me.