the hole in the sidewalk

Can you stand more "religious" stuff?  Sorry, it's Lent.  That's where I'm at. 

Sister-in-law and I have spent the last two evenings at a Lenten mission at a parish not too far away given by a local priest.  I walked away last night thinking I had heard most of what he had to say before.  (Last spring I attended a day of recollection that he gave, and sometimes I go to daily Mass at his parish, so he wasn't an unfamiliar face.)  Tonight, he reviewed, and I realized how much he had covered last night, and took notes tonight. There are probably easily several posts in the things he shared tonight. 

God loves us as we are, where we are.  But He loves us too much to leave us there. 

So tonight was about change.  About confession and conversion.  Because the "Catholic flaw" is celebrating the sacraments over and over again without conversion.  That ho-hum attitude.

One avenue to change and conversion involves the "AAA plan".....Awareness, Acknowledgment, and Acceptance. 

To illustrate this, he used "An Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters" by Porsche Nelson.  It is short, and worth sharing here.

Chapter 1:  I walk down the street and there’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes me forever to find my way out.

Chapter 2:  I walk down the same street and there’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe that I’m in the same place, but it isn’t my fault. It takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3:  I walk down the same street there’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see that it is there. I still fall in.  It’s a habit.  My eyes are open. I know it’s my fault. I get out immediately.

Chapter 4:  I walk down the same street there’s a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

Chapter 5:  I walk down another street.