Today can only be described as gray. The skies are gray. The roads and pavements are gray. The now seemingly ageless snow is gray. Driving around this morning as I did my usual pattern of Friday errands, I looked around and thought: This is what the color gray looks like. This is the definition of gray.

I walked into the house after this thought and walked directly to the bookshelves that holds the dictionary. While it may be easier to look up definitions online these days, I still love the weight and the feel of Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Online dictionaries parcel out the words one by one, giving you only the definition of the word you have entered. The fullness of the heavy Webster’s allows you to make no mistake about all you do not know. For instance, looking for ‘gray’ allows you to also see ‘gravy train’ which precedes it and ‘gray-back’,’gray-beard’, and ‘gray eminence’ which follows. Opening the dictionary can lead to long, endless hours of exploration and humility.

Gray: a color that is a mixture of black and white, dark, dullish, dreary, dismal. Gray:Old and respected. Gray:designating a vague, intermediate area, as between morality and immorality. Who would have thought the definition of gray could be so wide, so far flung?

As I reflected on the gray of this particular day it might at first seem to be best defined by the first meaning….dullish, dark and dreary, someplace between black and white. Certainly the atmosphere is hanging low and the skies show no sign of a brighter more colorful light. But the gray of this day also points toward the age of the winter that has gripped us here in the Midwest. A winter that arrived early and is staying late. It has been a winter that has caused us to respect the push and pull and power of the seasons.

However, this gray day might also be described by the last definition…..’designating a vague intermediate area.’ Those of us who find our home in the Christian Household are mid-point in the season of Lent. This season, defined by wanderings in the wilderness and an anticipation of resurrection, might be described as gray. Lent represents a mixture of black and white, of making our way, of longing for the rebirth we know is possible but not yet visible.

Someone said to me yesterday that they believe people need Easter more than ever this year. It is not only the dull, steadiness of the weather but perhaps also the heaviness of the world’s turmoils that led to that statement. I will agree. We are longing for a movement from this blend of the vast extremes of the color palette. No more mixtures, just pure, brilliant color. No vagueness but a sure and certain promise of rebirth.

These gray days provide an opportunity for reflection and anticipation of all that is yet to be. In Revelation, John writes:”See, I am making all things new.” I am holding on to that promise with both hands.

Have a blessed weekend….