After seeing the latest Marvel comic book movie featuring an antihero character named Venom, my 12-year-old son tried to answer a question from his younger brother who asked, "Is Venom a good guy or a bad guy?"

My son balked, thought about it, and finally said well, "He's a good guy who sometimes does bad things."

And if we could carve into the hearts of all humanity this fundamental truth, living with its nuances and grace, we would be much farther along in the ball game.

The fact that you and I swim in a sea brimming with financial and family worries, political turmoil, regrettable actions, dashed expectations, and missed opportunities, is not news.

Nor are we unaware that we also swim alongside our best friends, valued possessions, generous charitable actions, altruistic attitudes, and stupendous accomplishments.

And one of the challenges of this ongoing marathon swim is to keep these things in perspective, understanding that there are horrible things we endure, but by the grace of God we can make it.

Not only are we good people who sometimes do bad things, but we battle our tendency to define ourselves by the worst things we've ever done or the worst experiences we've ever gone through.

This Sunday in church, we will hear Jesus talk about a little bit about this. We Christians now approach the season in our liturgical calendars called Advent, which typically kicks off with prophetic and apocalyptic-style scripture readings that serve to warn us of life's brevity, the seriousness of the battles we face, and the victories that await us.

Amidst this, the message is always one of encouragement and hope in the midst of our trials. No, we are not to be defined by our worst actions or traumas, but to embrace life in its entirety, knowing that the battle is long, but not impossible, taxing, but not fatal, and in the end God wins, love wins, and walking each day in that confidence of hope and joy is what it means to keep our eyes on Christ and to act in faith.

Let's be good to ourselves and to others, we are fighting hard and important battles - life gets really really difficult, but let's keep our eyes on the prize, our feet grounded in faith, knowing that God will carry us through.