First Sunday of Lent
Mark 1:9-15
Cross Eyed
A few weeks ago, I was out driving when it started to snow. Just a few flakes at first, nothing to worry about. But after a few minutes it made the Queensway pretty slushy. While driving behind some of the large trucks, the slush would spatter on my windshield. At first I didn't put my wipers on because it just made the view a little foggy, not enough to worry about. Finally it got to the point where I had to put my wipers on and all they did was smear the slush splatter so that my vision was impaired. However, there was that that little space of clear windshield left to squint through. But as a transport truck passed me, I got a massive splash and suddenly I couldn't see anything. I lost my focus because the view out the windshield was completely gone. I felt a sense of panic because I could no longer see the lines for the car lanes and at that point I happened to be on a part of the Queensway near my home that is undergoing construction so the lanes have been repainted to be “s” shaped rather than straight. I later heard on the radio that there were a lot of accidents that day, so clearly others lost their ability to focus on the road or the traffic in front of them as well.
It is so easy to lose our focus whether it's driving or whether it's in just living day to day. Today is the first Sunday in Lent and Lent begins with the story of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry with His baptism and His temptation in the desert. Lent is that season of the forty days leading up to Easter and the celebration of the resurrection, a time when we're called to keep our eyes and our focus on the cross.
