How do you find the holy amid all the garbage of the world? There’s a lot of garbage in politics and in our relationships. How can we find holy moments in the middle of all our living?
That thought has come alive in a new way in my life this year. Wendy’s parents were hoarders and when it came time for them to move from independent living to assisted living, the task of cleaning out their former apartment fell upon us – (but mostly to Wendy).
As we went through piles of papers from junk mail to every receipt they ever got, we would find treasures like long-forgotten pictures of special events or documents of significant importance. The shocking reality meant that we were going to need to look carefully at, examine, and touch everything! Talk about difficult! Wow!
As I thought about that process, I realized that it was no different than your or my everyday life. Most of our encounters are like junk mail needing to be thrown into the recycling bin to be shredded and made into something new. I bet you and I keep a list of occurrences fresh in our minds that are as inconsequential as that Jack-in-the-Box receipt.
The holy is there, if we look for it amid the garbage. That’s what our Lenten journeys are all about—finding what needs to be thrown out and what needs to be kept in our lives.
Shalom, Paul
Finding the holy amid the garbage.
