Monday, March 3, 2008

LENT SLOGS ALONG

Half way. We are half way to Easter. I like that better that half way from Ash Wednesday. Genesis moves along. Joseph bails out his family. Jacob prepares to die. It occurs to me having leafed through the Ecclesiastes' readings for Wednesday's class, that we pay much to little attention to the other books in the Bible. We are such a Gospel oriented people, that Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were certainly eye openers for me.

Proverbs had quite a lot to say about living. Day to day living. What to do, what and whom to avoid. How to conduct oneself in society. Likewise Ecclesiastes but mostly in trite sayings rather than admonitions. Perhaps if we were to pay more attention to these books, the Gospels would not be so difficult to live out. Given Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the Gospels should be a piece of cake. But they're not because we haven't been given the rules and regulations about how to live life. It is like we are thrust into the middle of it all and expected to get it right off. Only, of course, we don't. Because we don't have the tools. So much of our learning is the explanation and interpretation of the Gospels. Maybe if we had a better background it wouldn't be so hard.

BUT, we are where we are and we know what we know. So, make the best of it. Work harder at understanding and living the Gospel. For me, that means lighten up. Relax. Don't be so intense. Let God do most of the work. Accept. Have a sense of humor. God must do a LOT of laughing at our awkwardnesses with life, we may as well do some of the laughing with God.