{"id":9813,"date":"2013-02-20T12:52:36","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T18:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=9813"},"modified":"2013-02-20T12:52:36","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T18:52:36","slug":"a-boomers-journal-working-through-the-browns-and-grays-of-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=9813","title":{"rendered":"A Boomer\u2019s Journal: Working through the Browns and Grays of Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/a>A Boomer’s Journal<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Tom Anselm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brown is the color of the day, these days.\u00a0 The bare treegroves shoot back little of the suns reflection.\u00a0 On gray days, they stand even more somber.\u00a0 And even though we can’t say it’s been a bad winter, winter still it is, and the leaf-less branches echo that reminder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It is in this time of nature’s rest that there comes for many who espouse to Christian or Jewish faiths a time of reflection, of taking stock, of harking back to the traditions of our ancestors.\u00a0 For some, it is the Lenten season, the word “lent” coming from the Old English word “lencten”, meaning “season of spring.”<\/p>\n

But Spring is not yet upon us.\u00a0 It is but a whisper on a warmer day, a tease of a breeze carrying the promise of the next change.\u00a0 We know we are nearing the end of the brown and bare, and are looking forward to soft rains, the sun’s stay and new growth.<\/p>\n

Want to “give up” something for Lent.<\/p>\n

When we were kids, we followed along with the idea of sacrifice.\u00a0 For me, it was usually ice cream or candy.\u00a0 I might have responded to a higher call, like not banging on my little brothers, but experience taught me that this wouldn’t last long, so I went with the more tangible food items.\u00a0 Did it make me a better person, prepare me for the day that many hold as the culmination of their faith?\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 But it did keep me steeped in the feeling that this time was different, that change was expected.<\/p>\n

This difference theme is found in the Jewish religion at the Seder, or Passover Meal, which usually coincides with Lent.\u00a0 At this commemoration, the youngest child asks “Why is this night different from all other nights?”.\u00a0 This is the recounting of the last plague of the Angel of Death as it “passed over” and saved their first-born sons, the event that finally moved the\u00a0 Egyptian Pharaoh to give the ancient Israelites release from their slavery.\u00a0 Muslims have Ramadan, a time for fasting and sacrifice and purification that comes later in the year.\u00a0 Theirs too is a “refraining”\u00a0 from things that take us away from what we should be.<\/p>\n

Buddhist’s celebrate\u00a0Bodhi Day, or\u00a0Enlightenment Day,\u00a0observed by prayer\u00a0and meditation.<\/p>\n

It is change we all are seeking.\u00a0 A new and better way of being.<\/p>\n

And so it is with the\u00a0promise of the season\u00a0to come. We will see\u00a0it in the shoots of the\u00a0crocus, in the buds on\u00a0the branches, in the\u00a0\u00a0swollen bellies of the\u00a0\u00a0robins.\u00a0 We will smell it after the rain, feel it on our warmed cheeks.\u00a0 But that time is not here. Not yet.\u00a0 We can’t hasten it, we have to work through the coming weeks.\u00a0 But we have hope that it will come.<\/p>\n

One of our granddaughters, six-year-old\u00a0Elise, was not feeling like going to her religion classes.\u00a0 She was tired from a full day of First Grade, and was laying across the couch.<\/p>\n

“I don’\u2019t\u00a0 wanna go” she moaned to her mommy.\u00a0 “I already know everything about God.\u00a0 I even know his favorite color.”<\/p>\n

Intrigued by this announcement, her bemused mommy said “Really?\u00a0 What’s God’s favorite color?”<\/p>\n

“It’s all of us.”<\/p>\n

Well, maybe this fair child is way ahead of us.\u00a0 She has a head start on one of life’s mysteries.\u00a0 But as for me, I know I am not there yet, on so many levels.\u00a0 I need this time that is upon us to work through the browns and grays and move closer to the light.\u00a0 And I know this work will not be in vain.<\/p>\n

(Tom welcomes your comments.<\/em>\u00a0 Send to tjanselm@sbcglobal.net or @tganselm.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Boomer’s Journal By Tom Anselm Brown is the color of the day, these days.\u00a0 The bare treegroves shoot back little of the suns reflection.\u00a0 On gray days, they stand even more somber.\u00a0 And even though we can’t say it’s been a bad winter, winter still it is, and the leaf-less branches echo that reminder. 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