TRANSCRIPT:
I was thinking this week that here we are in Lent, and everybody’s focused on sacrifice and breaking those attachments that we have to things of the world. And it occurred to me in kind of a vision of how we stand between God, what those sacrifices are really trying to do. And we’ve got this plain in front of us littered with rocks; some, small pebbles, some, enormous boulders that cast shadows on us that we could be completely obscured from the light by. And those boulders represent our serious attachments to things of this world that prevent us from fully experiencing the light or the grace of God.
And so when we’re sacrificing, when we’re giving something up, what we’re doing is trying to uproot that rock, that boulder, not only so that it’s not a stumbling block for us in terms of our salvation, but so that by removing that rock- that boulder- we can experience more fully the grace of God, we can immerse ourselves in grace. And that basic vision- I know it’s terribly simplistic, even childish, but it’s really helped me to kind of ask myself to look at the field of my life that exists in front of me like a long plain between me and a sunrise or a sunset, and ask myself: “What boulders exist there that are casting shadows on me, that are stopping me from receiving all the grace that God wants to give me?”
I hope this is helpful for you. I hope it brings some perspective, and if nothing else, maybe you can share it with your children.