Lenten Journey

Today is Ash Wednesday. Faithful followers of this blog know that Wil does not like Ash Wednesday for two, now three, distinct reasons: 1) He does not like things smudged on his forehead 2) He does not like having to withhold "Alleulia" from his vocabulary for 40 days and now 3) The cafeteria doesn't serve pepperoni pizza (only cheese) on Fridays during Lent.

Nonetheless, we enter into a period of reflection today, and who can't use a round of that? My PR manager (liz) thinks everyone and their mother ought to read my book for Lent, as part of their Lenten journey. That's giving me way more credit (and pressure) than is due, but I do appreciate it.

My mom and I had a great conversation about my book - perhaps one of the biggest blessings to have come from all this. I told her that my cousin, Julie, had said I wrote because it was the only way I could get people in my family to listen to me. My mom then said that thinks most people feel they are misunderstood. For my birthday she gave me this, which her father had given to her a long, long time ago:

Maybe, as part of each of our Lenten journeys, we can work towards listening to each other better, judging each other less, and ultimately, understanding each other more.