Saturday of the Third Week in Lent

“To lend each other a hand when we are falling….Perhaps that’s the only work that matters in the end.” -Frederick Buechner

    The good news for all of you but, especially me, is that I am in Paradise. My house is full of beautiful women — my wife, my three daughters, and my daughter-in-law. Everyone is here to help my daughter Rebecca shop for maternity clothes and baby items and enjoy each other’s company. Why is it good news for you? —  I am soaking in all kinds of material for my meditations. Although there is not much silence to contemplate in right now. Why is it paradise for me? –I am surrounded by family when I choose, yet no one even misses me when I slip upstairs to watch basketball.

    “Stock price rises on announcement of new layoffs and health benefits being slashed at Company Y.”  “Hottest growth stock — Private prison company.” “ Government cuts again Welfare and Medicaid programs.” “ Government announces Immigration crackdown.”

    Sound familiar? Don’t worry I am not going to engage in a political meditation. I want to just point out the economic and political realities of the times, and the background noise that accompanies our personal melody. No one is called to solve all the world’s problems. Mother Teresa said, “ We can do no great things — only small things with Great Love.” During this Lent we seek God’s presence in our prayers, in our meditations, and in our worship. We will also find God’s presence in the smallest acts of kindness to our fellow humans. We feel his pleasure every time we lend some one “a hand when they are falling.”

    For the background music to change the first area of change must be in ourselves. We must be different.  Gandhi brought Independence to India by making salt ( and a few other acts of civil disobedience). During this Lent, as we change and respond to God’s mercy and grace with humility and love, others around us will respond to our song. It can become a movement, and in the background will be a symphony of a much more beautiful type.

    It all begins with “a helping hand” and heart.

    Webb

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About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.