Sunday, April 10, 2016

Replace, Repair, Restore


I have a new post on OCN, The Cobbler’s Repairs and Lent.   It's about repairing a great pair of boots.  And it's about Lent. Actually, it's about restoration.   Here's a snippet:




"I received a pair of gray and black patent leather cowboy boots for my fortieth birthday. They were a gift from my mother-in-law. She thought cowboy boots would serve as a reminder of what American grit can accomplish and that I once lived in Colorado. I loved wearing them—that is until the heel broke. For the past few months they waited, slouched over with a detached heel, near the door to my garage waiting to catch a ride to the cobbler to be repaired."

"We need more cobblers and fewer retailers. We need more seamstresses and fewer catalogs. We need more repairing and less replacing. I imagine fewer people are experiencing Lent with prayer, fasting and almsgiving because they don’t know what it means to repair anything. Everything broken is replaced with new. We’ve lost the art of restoration, and this spills into our spiritual life."

"... if we aren’t used to repairing what is broken, if we just replace things when they are no longer a use for us, how will we make that association when we are spiritually broken? Most of us, when we are spiritually broken, just live with it. We forgive ourselves. We cry out 'No regrets!' or 'God must have had a plan.' But we are not repaired.  We are not restored."

Click here to read the full article.



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