Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Irreverin

Home
Progressive Christian
Die Laughing: It’s a Lent Thing

Die Laughing: It’s a Lent Thing

Last updated on: February 17, 2016 at 3:53 pm by Erin Wathen

Die Laughing: It’s a Lent Thing 2016-02-17T15:53:45-07:00 Erin Wathen

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s all heavy sometimes. Life. Ministry. Lent. Winter. An election year. All of it. Some days it is all just heavy.

My heart is especially heavy as Lent begins this year, with sadness for a family that suffered a terrible loss last week. I let that heaviness settle into Ash Wednesday. I let it preach the sermon on Sunday. I am learning to sit with it in prayer; I am holding space for it, indefinitely.

I am an Enneagram Seven (the cheerleader! the sales rep! Joy, from the InsideOut movie!) which means it is against my nature to let sadness into my life in this way. The impulse is to ignore it, or bury it in busy-ness and cool stuff. But I know better than to lean into that impulse. I know that is the way of death. I’m learning, instead, to be present to the life that is–which, at the moment, is heavy. And sad.

But– heaviness needs the occasional moment of levity. To that end, I’m going to share something that made me laugh. Hard. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor, but this just tickled me to death. (Pun=intended). I mean, laughing with big, mascara-running tears.

My friend/church member Annette teaches the 1st grade at a Title 1 school, which means she is 8 kinds of super hero. So one day, super Mrs. B asks her kids to draw pictures of what they will be doing when they are 101 years old. (I’m thinking it was the 101st day of school or something?) I dig this activity so much more than having kids dress up as tiny 101-year-olds. I have always found that practice pretty strange, and also, one more thing for which we slacker moms have to produce accessories. SO, anyway, she asks these sweet kids to draw their super-old selves, and here’s what she got:

“I think that when I am 101 years old, I will die by then.”

“I think that when I am 101 years old, I can’t walk.”

“I would die, because I would be too old to be 101 years old.”

“When I am 101 years old, it would be my last day to live, because the next day I would be dead!”

Ok, what’s the verdict? Do I have a twisted sense of humor, or are these the MOST HILARIOUS thing you have seen today?? Like,”geez, Mrs. B, I don’t know about you, but I WILL BE DEAD BY THEN. What the heck kind of smoothies are you drinking?”

Anyway. Annette figures perhaps she should set this activity up differently in the future. Maybe a bit more narrative example in the instructions. But dang, that will not be nearly as funny. Still wiping tears and patching up my mascara over here.

Maybe it really is that funny. Or maybe I just really needed a laugh. Don’t we all?

Death is heavy. And whether or not it comes close to home, this is a season for reckoning with the limitations of our physical lives; 40 days to sit in the wilderness with the knowledge that you will one day be a part of that dry and dusty earth. But you know what? That is ok. And these kids, these first graders–they totally get that.

There is no fear in these pictures. No sadness. No dread or deep philosophical fretting over mortality. The images are bright and colorful; the faces are mostly happy; the exclamation points make it all so cheerful. Sure, the sun and the flower are shedding some tears there for a minute (because when you’re in first grade, the sun with a face is ALWAYS part of your narrative)… But on the whole, these are pragmatic glimpses of a certain future: at some point, we will die. These kids seem to think that’s ok.

So maybe it is.

When you are 7, it is not hard to say, sure, I’ll probably die sometime in the next century. And I’m ok with that. So at what point does death get heavy? At what point do we begin to look towards that certain future with dread and sadness?

Maybe it is the day we realize there is not as much space between us and 100 as we’d always thought; or that the time moves more quickly than we were led to believe as children.

Maybe that fear creeps in when we realize that, statistically speaking, we might not exactly have 100 years; unless we are very, very lucky and eat our vegetables always.

Or maybe death changes tone for us the first time it takes someone we love. Or someone impossibly young. Or both.

If that is the case, then it really isn’t our own death we fear, is it? It is what death can take from us… or rather, whom.

And yes, that is heavy. I am back to the heavy-ness.

But this is why we do these weeks in wilderness. We walk close enough to death to learn that –for all its certainty– it has no power over us. Because we also have joy; we also have the promise of life that does not end with the body. We have laughter. We have good music to listen to and books to read and snacks. We have work to do, and people to love. So that’s what we will get on doing. Even as we hold space for sadness. Even if we move with heavy hearts.

Lent is heavy work. It is the season when we learn to look death square in the eye and say “You are not the boss of me.” You tell death that it will not change your living. That the fear of its shadow will not steal a moment of your joy or breath or love. And then you laugh. All the way to Sunday.

Previous Post

February 10, 2016

The Death We Carry

Next Post

February 19, 2016 On Making America Great Again

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category a good week for progress Advent and Christmas Being a Person desert life faith and community Good News for Progressives Lent and Easter Marriage and Family S*^! Jesus Says sabbatical road tripping Spirituality in Culture Talking to Strangers the "Best Stuff I Ever Ate" diet travel Uncategorized writing Writing Prompt Wednesday

Select a Month January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 February 2011 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Psalm is famous as the "Shepherd's Psalm"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Psalm 1 Psalm 119 Psalm 51 Psalm 23