I read recently a nice story about a man who had lost his
watch. It was a special watch given to him by his wife. He enlisted his friends
to help him search the place where he lost it, to no avail. Then as he sat
under a tree contemplating how he would tell his wife that her gift to him was
lost, a small boy handed him his watch. The man asked how had the boy found the
watch, when all the adults had failed. The boy answered, “ya’ll were making so
much noise while you were looking, I just waited until you gave up, and then I
listened carefully for the sound of the watch ticking. It wasn’t difficult to
find it in the quiet.”
Now watches don’t tick very often anymore, but the story is
not about the watch, but about “making noise” as we search. As Easter
approaches the noise level seems to escalate. Easter bunnies and eggs, family
coming to the house, dressing up in our Easter finest, etc. begin to dominate
our attention in these last days of Lent. Add to the volume, the everyday
business of work, school, travel, etc. and the noises of the week drowns out its significance.
We are on the last leg of our journey, but we tune out its message and are
distracted by the sounds of everyday. I love sitting in the dark and quiet on
Easter morning in the church pew. Then the light slowly fills the room as does
the music. We need to try during these last few days to listen for what is
lost, and to silence the sounds that can hide the gift of our Lenten journey.
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