Fortune Cookies and Lent

I sat in the front row at church last night (highly unusual) contemplating during Ash Wednesday service, still pondering what it means to me. Should I give something up or add something on? Should I swear to exercise every day? Or maybe not drink sodas for 40 days? I sat there, staring straight ahead at the window, talking to God in my head with my eyes open. (Not my usual posture of head bowed, eyes closed)

Then I was distracted by my reflection in the clear smooth glass of the window. There are several dim light sources that light the church. These caused my reflection to blur and overlap itself. I was mesmerized by the fact that I couldn’t see past my blurry reflection. I could not see “out” the window. Everything beyond the clear smooth panes of glass was black.

I sat for several long minutes gazing at my multiple images and trying to see beyond myself. But it was just blurry me and the blackness beyond. Then a car pulled into the parking lot and the light from the other side allowed me to see beyond the window itself. I could see the trees and landscape clearly now and my image, it was no longer blurry but a single image of me that was transparent allowing me to see through myself to the outside world.

Let me see if I can extrapolate that into a Chinese fortune cookie. Your life is blurry and you have a hard time seeing beyond yourself. Yep. You need an exterior light source to light the darkness so you may see beyond that darkness. Uh huh. With a light (from God) you can start to focus your reflection (soul) and see the world through that focus. Yeah.

I’m no philosophizer (as we like to say in Texas) but that seems like a pretty clear message to me. So my plan is to spend this Lenten season focusing myself on God’s light so that I can see more clearly and clearly be seen.