FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(02/14/2010)
WHO
AM I ?
Cindy Hong
Valentine's
Day in elementary school meant fun over learning. We'd cover an empty
tissue box with a brown grocery bag, decorate it, and place it on the
corner of our desks. Throughout the day, cards and candy would magically
appear in it. Superman, Smurfs, Garfield cards. And the candy. Little
hearts that said, “Be Mine” and “You're Special.”
Hershey's Kisses wrapped in red foil. The candy sales later today or tomorrow
will supply cheap chocolates to feed the addict in me. Entering the kitchen
on Chinese New Year, the smell of roast pork wafting through the air,
and if you listened carefully, you could almost hear the grease sizzle
in the oven. On the counter, the sticky rice becoming stickier by the
minute. And if we were good that year, there'd be red envelopes in a bowl
of oranges. The perks of attending a Chinese church on Chinese New Year,
today's lunch will feed the Chinese side of me. This month's Vancouver
Olympics will nurture my love of couch potato sports. A symphony of anthems,
a collage of flags, and an intersection of cultures, the next two weeks
will be spent watching athletes from all over the world. Much less thunderous,
much less conspicuous, much less expensive, in the midst of all this sneaks
up Ash Wednesday this week and the beginning of Lent. No gazillion dollar
card, candy, and flower industry, no fancy foods and red envelopes, no
skiing, skating, and snowboarding competitions, just a day of ashes to
kick off a season of repentance and reflection. Where's the excitement,
eh? Where's the love? The celebration? No wonder we hardly observed Lent
in the churches I grew up in, preferring to skip over it and focus on
the weekend of Good Friday to Easter Sunday. Yet in between the chocolates,
the roast pork, the figure skating competitions, hopefully who I am in
Jesus Christ does not lie dormant. In the midst of all the festivities,
feastings, and games, may we also spend time in the next few weeks on
what it means to be a disciple, a learner, a follower of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior, Teacher and Friend. Lent is a season for us because
we need it.
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