{"id":1798,"date":"2016-02-13T16:16:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T16:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=1798"},"modified":"2016-02-13T16:21:46","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T16:21:46","slug":"lent-a-season-of-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/lent-a-season-of-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Lent: a Season of Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a child’s toy back in the day that kept us busy for hours. It was primitive by today’s standard of i-phones and computer games, but its simplicity made it doable for any kid.<\/p>\n

It was called Etch-a-Sketch. It consisted of a TV-like screen covered with a silver dust on the inside. Two dials at the bottom controlled an invisible pen that would carve a drawing onto the screen. It was fun to watch the tiny point trace your design into the silver dust as your picture gradually appeared.<\/p>\n

The drawings were primitive to say the least; flat, two dimensional profiles were the best you could “draw”. I tried to draw side profiles of birds (cardinals mostly). I was terrible at it. The problem was that once you scraped into the silver screen you were stuck with it. There was no eraser.<\/p>\n

So when my cardinal started to look like a dinosaur, I could either push on doodling what looked now like a monster of some sort . . . OR . . . I could start over.
\nStarting over was easy in Etch-a-Sketch. You just flipped the board over and the secret silver stuff inside would re-coat the screen giving you a blank canvas. It was a do-over.<\/p>\n

\n

Things are not quite that easy in real life, are they? Years of a particular behavior create habits that just won’t go away. They’ve worked their way into our lives so as to become part of “who we are”.<\/p>\n

Hopefully most of these are good habits and we should continue to do these. But sometimes what started out as a cardinal now looks like a dinosaur in my life. Selfish, lazy, arrogant deeds appear regularly on my canvas. I don’t want them. They hurt people. And when I think about it . . they hurt me.<\/p>\n

So what can we do? We can’t just flip our lives leaving everything behind. That would ruin the good that we have done. I think it calls for a good look at ourselves to find what makes us look like a dinosaur to others, to God and to ourselves.<\/p>\n

What might that be? Actually I bet you already know what’s causing problems with those you love most. Do you need a list? How about these . . .
\nWays of acting that hurt others and myself:<\/p>\n