And at the same time, I've been processing a lot lately about our environment, what we create, what we leave behind... the good and the bad.
There's a poignant juxtaposition of these two realities: Ash Wednesday, which reminds us of the fact that we've only got a few precious years on this little blue marble in space – that we will eventually return to that from which we were made: cosmic dust.
The other reality, if you will, is the "secular environmental" one: that we are stewards of the earth, and we use things, and we leave things behind. Neither of these perspectives are half-bad to meditate on right now, and they're more intimately linked than one might think.
The environmentalists will ask what kind of a carbon footprint you leave in your wake. The spiritual stewards of this world will put a different spin on it: What kind of holy footprint do you leave behind?
Lent is a time when a lot is going on in the world of campus life, and much of it is future oriented: Will I get an RA position next year? Will I graduate? Where will I end up? What's the future of my relationship with (fill in the blank). Is this what God wants of me, or simply what I want? Some students, facing spring break in a couple of weeks, will choose to bury these questions in frolicking and alcohol. But others will find places to work these issues out in quiet and holy ways: walking, retreating, serving others.
Lent is a good time to look at our footprints. Where we have come over the past few years. What we're up to. What we've been doing (the good and the not-so-good).
What do we leave behind? What's our spiritual carbon footprint? How have we used the things that have been given us – not just the tangible, quantifiable things of this earth, but the more intangible (and more powerful) unseen gifts of the Spirit? What's our record of stewardship when it comes to the things we've been given?
It's a good time to look back. Look back upon our tracks.
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