Is It Too Much To Ask?

We are about to enter Holy Week, the culmination of our Lenten journey. The time when we should look back on our Lenten resolves and see how we have done. How are we different then we were six weeks ago?

If you remember, my resolve wasn’t to give up something that is difficult, it was to do something difficult. I set out on this journey to ”Love and let God do the rest.“ It started out well, but then as with a lot of spiritual practices, life got in the way, my own lack of discipline got in the way, and people I just couldn’t love got in the way. After a few less than stellar performances on my part, I got a bit discouraged and lax in my resolve.

As I realized this week that time was running out, I decided to ramp it up a bit. I was on a frenetic pace to find opportunities to “Love and let God do the rest.”  To not sweat the small stuff, just love. Just then, I spotted an opportunity right in my own kitchen.

Next to the kitchen sink is a rack where I keep a dishtowel. A neatly placed, right-side-out fully extended dishtowel. Quite often, much to my dismay, that same towel ends up looking very different. (See the picture above.)

Is it too much to ask?

Instead of straightening it every time I walk by as I roll my eyes and rehearse a very angry conversation in my head with the perpetrator, I just leave it as is. I use that rumpled up dishtowel as a reminder to just keep loving and let God straighten things out.

It also prompts me to ask myself how many times have I disappointed God. How many times have I not done things quite as he would like? How many times has He thought to himself, “Is it too much to ask?”

This week as we try once more to wrap our minds around Jesus’ incomprehensible act of merciful love, we need to search for the ways we can spread that same merciful love to those around us. We need to let Jesus’ merciful love for us sink so deeply into our being that it is no longer difficult to love others. It just flows. 

Is it too much to ask?

Joan