Growing up I always loved to play in the dirt. So much so in fact that we needed to eliminate a strawberry patch outside my childhood home not because I was eating too many strawberries but because it provided too much mud in the rainy Seattle weather because of all the dirt needed for good strawberry growth. In any case when I was eleven and started playing golf, I soon found my home away from home not in the middle where the grass was green but out in the waste areas where everything was goopy and muddy and gross. I once shot even par on the back nine without hitting the fairway once, because I had become so proficient at trouble shots from bad areas.

           I recognized recently that there is some serious spiritual value to seeing the world in this way, because most of life is not played from the sweet spot in the middle of the fairway but in fact from my favorite spot out in the weeds. In fact, Christ Himself makes a preferential option for those specifically from these areas out on the margins. When I was playing golf, I would often run into other golfers who would just give up on a hole because they had missed the fairway. They were then quite surprised when they would play with me, and not only would I go looking for the ball in the woods or the lake, but I was actually happier playing the ball from there. More often than not I would make par and move on to my opponent’s consternation.

           It is a good mediation for us all, particularly during Lent to remember that not only should we not give up on ourselves or our life if we miss the fairway but also shouldn’t give up on others. A “par” in life can still be made if we are willing to get our feet a little dirty and I must admit that playing from the odd position in my current role is far more satisfying than an easy shot with someone who doesn’t have any struggles. If you ever really want to make my day, bring me a horrendous situation that you think can’t be reconciled with finding God again. It’s not that I like the trouble others find themselves in, it’s that I have a special love for finding the great in difficult places.

           I would like to think that Jesus is the same. He tells us that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner than ninety-nine saints. He always looked for the worst-case scenarios in every village He entered, and He always turned those situations into something beautiful. As we continue our Lenten journey and life don’t count yourself out and start looking for the beautiful play in the bad place because it can have a tremendous effect on those around you.

Prayers Always, 

Fr. Joseph Altenhofen