FRIDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Last semester, each of my professors gently reminded me that the material we would cover was not confined to absolutes.  Even so, I consistently struggled to leave the bounds of black and white and enter into the full spectrum of gray that exists in between.  In academics and most every other aspect of my life, the "grays" are hard for me to acknowledge and even more challenging for me to accept.

Naturally, i defaulted to this extreme way of thinking in my first couple of reflective passes through today's readings;  those who do good will have eternal life and those who do bad will not.  Once again, I failed to see the in-betweens.  While our highest and lowest moments do matter, they're not the totality of our existence.  We are blessed to have a God who forgives us in our lower moments, recognizes our potential to again experience higher ones, and deeply values us in all the ordinary moments that lie between.  Today's readings do not portray a God whose judgement is confined to black and white, but rather a God who sees, embraces and loves us in the gray.

As we enter this Lenten season, may we consider the ordinary that makes up the gray in our own lives.  It's easy to see only the black and white in ourselves, others, and the world, but in doing so, we miss out on all of the beauty that lies in the gray.  What gray do you overlook?