Lent: Looking for the Cross Day 1

Photo:  Linda Cannon

Lent Day 1

I am looking for the Cross. I want my eyes to be laser-focused to see the Cross everywhere I am, everywhere I go. Because we see what we look for in life. Look around and notice everything red. Now close your eyes and remember everything blue. See what I mean? You remembered what you were trying hard to notice.

This Lenten season I have challenged myself, and my friends, to find the Cross. In the obvious, and in the obscure, in the natural, and in the most bizarre. I’m doing this as a reminder to myself that all I am, every breath I take and every moment I am given life here on earth, needs to be built on Christ, and the Cross, and all He has done for me, on all His blessings and promises, and His return. I am basing this on Hebrews 12:2 – keep your eyes on Jesus!

Today I took this photograph of a handicapped bathroom stall. The symbols screamed out to me. First, you can see from the highlights (mine – the walls/floors were not stained in any way) that there are crosses everywhere. So even when I think my life is “in the toilet”, the Cross is there with me. And as a former bulimic, who was handicapped for so long in the chains of this eating disorder, a handicapped stall took on a whole new meaning for me. There are handrails in this stall – embedded in the Cross tiles – I know He will hold me up and help me in my weakness. There is water – dirty and clean – symbolizing how He washes me and flushes away all my sin. And it’s not polite to talk about, or politically correct to show a toilet – and I love that because the Cross was never meant to be polite or politically correct. 

And finally, there is the realization that the great equalizer in life is that EVERYONE, EVERYONE needs a bathroom, rich or poor, celebrity or common folk. Just like the Cross.

This is my gift of praise to Christ my Savior on this first day of Lent.