On A Shopping Day

I went shopping this morning–no rain, wind is a bit strong, but very pleasant day to be outdoors even for shopping.  Even the carts I used rolled nicely.  Some days my shopping expedition is so wretched–pouring rain, strong wind, my cart rolling away on the parking lot, having to chase it before it hits another vehicle, stuff rolling off the cart into a puddle of rain water, cart that has its own will, pushing heavy load uphill on parking lot, unpleasant cashier, merchandise poorly stocked and having to go to extra stores, cashier telling me the machine isn’t recognizing my 5.00 coupon, cashier running out of the roll of register paper just after the customer before me, waiting forever at  service desk to see an unpleasant clerk, finding the van has no space left for more stuff, loading the van with 25 lbs of sugar and another 25 lbs of flour in rain….!!!!  Some days the only good thing is no car accident on the trip….  But still I have to be grace-ful so that people I encounter won’t be driven away from the Church because of me….   Well, today was a lovely shopping day!  Thank you, Lord!

 

GETTING SHARP FOR LENT

That is Nicky the Cat’s idea.  Sharpen those claws because spring (aka lent) is coming.  The old meaning of the word “lent” was “spring.”  With the ending of winter lots of things need to be done.  Like sharpening those claws!  The cat is not all wrong really.  He sheds his winter coat and gets ready to enjoy Spring.  He knows that his athletic skills need to be honed if his hunt is to be profitable.  As Christians we need a season to sharpen our soul’s skills, as it were.  A time to sharpen our longing and hunt for God – for the Eternal Love we sense is there waiting for us to respond.  It is less about ‘giving up’ and more about ‘getting on’ and remembering that we are athletes in spirit and must get tough on ourselves – to be ready for the Spring of Life.