Sober Encouragement

Ash Wednesday: For Christians, a Holy Day that gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. It is the beginning of Lent, where believers begin preparing their hearts and minds for the celebration of Easter.

My line of work—corporate trainer, executive coach, and philanthropy—requires heavy doses of encouragement to others, authentic optimism and such. Rarely a training or coaching session goes by that I do not reflect on a passage written by Annie Dillard:

No child on earth was ever meant to be ordinary, and you can see it in them, and they know it, too, but then the times get to them, and they wear out their brains learning what folks expect, and spend their strength trying to rise over those same folks.

We can be so much more, are intended for so much more, but that awareness is beaten down by the expectations of others, as well as by those “times” that tell us, “No, you really aren’t … can’t … are unable to …” As we are experiencing such debilitating and condemning thoughts, we need encouragement to see that, yes, we can be and do as we dreamed.

The other side of the coin here is that, in our culture, many people go through life imbibing nothing but Hallmarkian bon mots regarding how unique and special they are but never hearing, From Dust You Came, and To Dust You Shall Return. Encouragement that does NOT take this reality into consideration is false and, in fact, frivolous.

Sooner or later, we all die. Living in the shadow of this reality will keep us asking the important questions:

Am I staying on mission? Is there a purpose behind my choices that is guiding and informing my decisions? Kierkegaard framed the question this way: “What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know … The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do … to find the idea for which I can live and die.” Truly an Ash Wednesday Quest!

Am I crafting a life that, right before returning to dust, I will consider a Good Life, a God-honoring Life? Is my life given to that Idea “for which I can live and die”?

Am I filling each moment of my life with meaningful, life enhancing and God-honoring experiences?

Am I truly—in word and deed—loving God with all of my heart, and loving others as I love myself?

Am I consistently working on becoming the fully functioning human being God created me to be?

Ash Wednesday is a slap in the face that helps us shed our vanity and remind us that we are here for a reason, other than pleasing others by doing what he wants, acting as she expects, or performing for them.

Ash Wednesday is a wake up call, inspiring us to stop operating on automatic pilot and discovering where it is we are to be driving—and taking full responsibility for whether or not we are going in that direction.

Ash Wednesday reminds us that Jesus Christ died for a reason, requiring us to confront our lives in light of eternity.

Ash Wednesday reminds us that, however important and necessary encouragement is, so is sobriety.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2009