In her book “When I Was a Child I Read Books” Pulitzer Prize winning author Marylynne Robinson wrote about how unaware we are of our own short-comings. We see another person’s short-comings just fine but are completely oblivious to our own . “We all know about hubris,” she wrote, “We know that pride goeth before the fall. The problem is that we don’t recognize pride or hubris in ourselves.”

Jesus once told a story about two men who went on the Temple. One was a pious Pharisee, the other a “sinner.” The sinner fell to his knees in the back of the Temple, beat his breast and lamented that he was a sinner. The Pharisee, looked at the sinner and prayed that he sure was glad that he was not like that man. He was quite proud of himself, actually. (Luke 28: 9-14) only one of the two walked away justified, Jesus said. And do you know who it was? The sinner.

Lent is a time to get “off our high horse” and do some serious soul searching, for penitence, for taking a spiritual inventory. It is a time to “clean up our act.” It is a time to remember that we are dust, and we shall return to dust. Ultimately it is a time to remember not only who we are but more importantly, Whose we are.

Lord, walk with me in this season of Lent as I journey toward the Cross and the promise of Easter. Amen.