The Turning of the Seasons

In church yesterday a 6 year-old girl asks to hold a 6 month old boy, "May I hold him?"
"Yes," replies one of the mothers, "but you need to be sitting down."
"Why do I always have to hold babies when sitting down? I want to hold him while standing up."
"Well ... babies like to wiggle and sometimes jump out of your arms. Even my kids who are twelve and fourteen sit down to hold babies."
"Oh," the 6 year-old says thinking. "When will I be old enough to hold a baby while standing up?"
"Maybe when your twelve or thirteen."
"12 or 13! That's a long time from now!"

Indeed it is, it's an entire life-time for our sweet 6 year-old. It might even be summed up as an eternity. No wonder the years went slower when we were that age, each year was 1/6 of our life-span. To suddenly turn 36 would seem impossibly old - 6 times our life-spans! Or what about a 72 year-old grandparent?

But the more we age, the shorter the year becomes: 1/36 or our life or even 1/72 in the above examples. So, how do we mark the year?

We are on the verge of such another marker: Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is this Wednesday. "Already?" You say. I smile as I agree with you, "Already." I've been thinking the same thing. Already, Lent is just upon us. A time of honesty, reflection, improvement?, and a time of preparing for Resurrection.

Blessed Be.

Joel