We Chose Poorly (02/26/2024)

There are only two of us, my husband and I; we don’t generate that much garbage. And during the winter months when the walk to the curb is cold and slippery, we sometimes opt not to take out the garbage for collection that week. After all, it’s cold, the garbage doesn’t smell when it’s frozen. And we made such a decision recently. But then, not having checked the weather forecasts, we were caught off guard when it reached the 60s. Suddenly, our garage reeked! I realized we’d chosen poorly; my husband can’t smell, so he had to rely on my word and the expression on my face.

Life is like that. We try to choose wisely, but we can choose poorly at times. To just ignore it can be a big mistake. Lent is a time when we are given the opportunity to reflect on our choices, to repent for those which were unwise and unloving, and to make decisions in our life that will hopefully keep us more on track and less likely to repeat our poor choices.

We look at Lent as a period of 40 days (it’s actually more, but we don’t count Sundays). Lent is a time when we are encouraged to “repent.” To truly “repent,” we must acknowledge that we’ve chosen poorly. And when we contritely pray for forgiveness, we usually add that we will try not to do this again. The LORD is merciful; this is true. But we should be responsible; we should seek to see the error in our ways and promise not to choose that poorly again.

Lent is also a time for additional prayer, it’s a time for doing good for our sisters and brothers in the community and world, and it’s a time to do without something. Hopefully, when Easter arrives, we’ve learned something: prayer can transform our days and lives; doing good and loving things for others makes a difference not only in the lives of those we serve but the goodness and grace boomerangs back to us; and what we’ve given up proved to us that we can survive without it and we wonder why don’t we and resolve to keep on that track.

Easter should find us transformed and we should take that transformation forward with us. Our journey takes us onward, but we would be remiss if we don’t take the lessons we’ve learned forward with us: that we need to choose the loving and wise path; that we need time with our LORD and a loving relationship with our LORD and one another; that we need to live our love not just profess it with our words but give no effort to bring those words to fruition; that we need to put down those non-essentials that de-rail our journey or weigh us down.

As we enter our second week of Lent and continue to contemplate our lives in light of our faith, we also look forward to our hope. Are we on the right path for that hope? Are we choosing wisely so as to reach our destination? And are those choices loving? Are we allowing the love we have received to transform us and our lives? Will Easter find us different than we were on Ash Wednesday?

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.

Thoughts you wish to share? Questions? Requests? – email katewiskus@gmail.com