I was thinking back this week on something that happened a couple of years ago. In 2022 the University of Washington hired a new football coach who had been quickly rising through the ranks of college football. The UW had flirted with success for a number of years but in all seriousness had not had national prominence for about 30 years. Soon after the new coach took the helm Washington started playing well, really, really, well. The 2023 football season started with lots of fanfare but that is nothing new for D1 schools and history had trumpeted such success for Washington before but then the Huskies began to win, a lot. By the later part of the season the new coach was heralded as the savior of a program that had not been seen in years and Washington capped the year with a place in the national championship game. Sadly, they lost, but coach had had such an impact that people were already talking about the possibility of winning the national championship the next year. Three days later the coach left for another more prominent school.

            In the surrounding news coverage, I heard one sports caster make the statement “it’s better to strive for mediocrity so you aren’t disappointed.” He was speaking in regard to the fans at Washington. For so long they had sought to return to national prominence and for years had fallen short. Just when they thought they had another chance their anointed coach left in what was a real slap in the face for many fans. The caster was saying “if you just had never gotten your hopes up you wouldn’t be hurting, in all seriousness you’ve been struggling for 30 years just give up already.” I was deeply affected by this statement because of how often many of us live our lives according to that thought process.

            With Christ’s death and Resurrection new life has been given to us but many times we are afraid to live into it because we are afraid of being hurt again if we begin to believe that something better can be found. With Christ this better life can indeed be found and in Him alone can we trust. As we continue our Lenten journey resist the temptation to listen to that sportscaster “It’s better to strive for mediocrity so that you aren’t disappointed.” You’re worth more than a mediocre life, Christ has already proven that, keep trusting even if Lent didn’t start the way you wanted it to.