It's almost as odd as seeing a pair of shoes tied together and flung across an overhead wire. You can't help wondering how it got there. Why it's there. Plain old weird.
Today, while I was driving home, I noticed a hubcap that was hanging on a branch. As a driver who has lost a hubcap or two through the years, I knew why this oddball thing was hanging on a treebranch. Someone had found it and knew the owner might be looking for it. The "finder" hung the hubcap on a prominent branch in hopes that the "owner" would pass that way again and see it. The good-deed-doer would never get a thank you for his act of kindness. It was enough to know that the owner might be thankful for the anonymous help.
My friend, during Lent, you are hanging hubcaps on trees for passersby. You won't be thanked. Nobody will ever come up to you and say, "Hey, when I saw the ashes on your forehead, I felt a tug back Home."
Or, "When I took an order and the entire family chose seafood, I realized that they were Catholic and I remembered that it was Friday. That's when I went to Confession. It was the first time in fifteen years."
Or, "I couldn't quite figure out what was going on with her, but she just stopped joining in the office gossip. At first I thought she was sick, but she was in too good of a mood to be sick. Then I wondered. Could it be what she's given up for Lent?"
You are hanging hubcaps on trees. They are out there, the ones who have lost something. And when they notice the oddball hubcap hanging from a tree limb, they might just say, "Hey, that's mine. I need that back."
No acclaim.
No recognition.
No thanks.
Go ahead and hang the hubcaps, friends. And smile while you're doing it. You are about to make another person's day, or week, or eternity.
Denise...'Hanging hubcaps on trees' absolutely the sweetest post I've read about Ash Wednesday. Came to it late..but I'll remember it for next year!
ReplyDeleteBlessings and +
Caroline from bellofthewanderer
Denise,
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you for sharing your Catholic journey. I stumbled across your Journey Home video last year, and it prompted me into a search to learn more about the Catholic Church. I am now certain that it is the truest representation of Christ's Church on Earth. I credit your story as the first instrument God used to reveal His Bride to me. Thank you for your blog, thank you for your story. They both bring comfort to me as I prepare for RCIA in the Fall. Blessings, blessings, blessings :)