Welcome
April Showers Come Early
Have you had a shower today? Yesterday? Did you feel refreshed afterwards? All the dust and oil that accumulates on our bodies and in our hair
is dissolved and rinsed away. All of the dead, dry skin is rubbed off. Stepping out of the shower is a feeling of relief and a new start.
What would it be like then not to shower for a week? To slowly coat with the dirt and oil of daily living but not be able to get fresh again. That is a feeling I have
come to know as a backcountry hiker. I have spent ten days in the wilderness hiking dirt trails, sweating, hair growing more matted each day under a grimy cap.
I’ve hauled my tired, dirty self into a 6’ X 8’ tent each night, plunging into a mummy sleeping bag without the benefit of a shower. I won’t even tell you about the
smell of my socks.
But at the end of the trail, when I come to that first outpost of plumbing, the luxury of a spraying shower head, my joy knows no bounds.
Four years ago the group of guys I was hiking with was faced with a tough choice. We hiked into Red’s Meadow, a campground just outside of Mammoth Lakes,
California, along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, at the end of a 16-mile day just after dark. It turned out that Red’s was having a barbecue
cookout that night with chicken, ribs, beans, cole slaw, bread and butter and all kinds of desserts. We had been living on freeze dried pouch meals, instant oatmeal,
trail mix and crackers for days. But the barbecue was shutting down in 30 minutes. My friends said they were feeling dirty and smelly. They could eat now and
shower later. Or they could shower now and miss the barbecue. They choose the shower.
Beginning February 22nd, Ash Wednesday, our tradition teaches us to discipline ourselves with restrictions in order to draw closer to God. Many of us choose
to make a sacrifice for Lent – to give up a food, activity or habit that has been a hindrance to us. We give up the joyous sound of “alleluias” in church, saving them
for the boisterous celebration of Easter morning. One thing we do not give up however is getting clean. In fact that’s precisely what Lent is about.
Think about how throughout the vast majority of the year, from April through February, your spirit gets coated with the dust of neglect, the oil of broken promises,
and the grime of indifference towards God and others. This filthy coating is the dirtiness of sin. Now imagine what that would feel like if it was the dirtiness of not
having taken a shower for ten months!
Lent comes each year as an opportunity for us to get fresh and clean. Lent is our spiritual shower, prompting us to scrub away the dry, dead layers of regret,
disappointment and spiritual malaise that have coated the clean heart of God within us. Lent is a season that can bring great relief when we choose to cleanse
the dirtiness of sin in our lives.
Many see Lent as a dour season, somber and lacking in joy. I see Lent just the opposite. It is like finally coming off of the dusty, sweaty trail all caked in grime,
but then stepping into the most heavenly shower. Not only does it bring relief, but it reminds me that I need to do this regularly if I want to keep my spiritual being
fresh and clean.
None of us would consider going without a shower for ten months! Then don’t allow this season of Lent to pass by without taking on a discipline that cleanses
some aspect of sin from your life. The cleaner you begin to feel, the more you’ll want to keep your life that way. After a month of it you may just find that you
can’t live without your new habit of spiritual cleanliness. Just like a daily shower. Ahhhhhhhh.
