We’re in the homestretch with Lent, with just two more weeks until Easter. This week will be difficult but Holy Week will be better, due to the oh-so-close feeling of being inches away from Easter Sunday. (Forgive me Father, for I am a Lenten whiner.)
I’ve been pretty good with my Lenten sacrifices, but not perfect. It’s been easier to succeed with the #LentChallenge of reading the entire New Testament through during the 40 days of Lent, as long as I stick to my bus-stop reading schedule. But in the past two weeks, due to a friend’s death and some family illness, my bus riding has been lessened and I’ve had to read the Good Book in an airport, on an airplane, in coffee shops, in parking lots and in restaurants. I haven’t yet read it with green eggs and ham, but I’ve got a couple weeks to go.
Reading the Bible in public definitely draws the looks of strangers, but I just try to get down to business, plow through that day’s reading assignment and not worry about what anyone might think. Most likely no one thinks anything at all, but this past week, first at an In-and-Out Burger and then at a Starbucks, three people did.
At the burger place, two construction workers asked me how long I’d been a Christian and if I found Bible study easy. This led to an odd conversation over French fries about Catholics being Christian, scholar notes in scripture and God in the movies. I felt like I should go to confession afterwards because the whole time the men were speaking with me, all I could think was, “I only have 30 minutes to get this reading done! Stop interrupting me!” Completely not the reaction anyone should have to another human being, especially when you’re trying to emulate Jesus.
At the Starbucks, a man watched me for 30 minutes but, luckily for my reading schedule, didn’t say anything until he was ready to leave. Then, he stood up, nudged his movie-star sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, tossed his empty coffee cup in the trash and walked over to my table. Nodding toward my Bible he said, “Good for you, and God bless you.”
And in that moment, I did feel blessed. Now if only I can pass it on.
Renee Wrote This 